Adolor Corporation Reports on Organizational Changes.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

EXTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2003

Adolor Corporation (Nasdaq:ADLR) announced today the promotions of Amy E. Romero-Gasman to vice president, marketing and David M. Stephon to vice president, quality assurance.

"These two promotions reflect our commitment to developing our organization to meet the evolving needs of our business," stated Bruce A. Peacock, president and chief executive officer of Adolor. "Amy and David have already contributed significantly to the company's accomplishments and we will need to draw on their expertise as we move forward."

Amy E. Romero-Gasman has over 14 years of healthcare and pharmaceutical experience, and joined Adolor in 2002 as senior director, marketing. Ms. Romero-Gasman's experience includes Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, where she held several progressive marketing positions with the most recent being product director, analgesics.

In this role, she managed the Ultram(TM) franchise and led the successful launch for Ultracet(TM), a prescription pain reliever indicated for the short-term management of acute pain. Prior to joining Adolor, she served as the director of marketing for Oxford GlycoSciences. Ms. Romero-Gasman earned a B.A. in Biological Psychology with honors from The American University.

David M. Stephon has over seventeen years of experience in commercial and clinical development operations at leading pharmaceutical companies. He joined Adolor in 2002 as senior director, quality assurance from Elan Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently held the position of associate director, compliance.

In this position, he was responsible for leading the company's quality assurance department for GCP, GLP and GMP compliance. Mr. Stephon is also an Editorial Advisory Board member for the Journal of GxP Compliance and has published numerous articles in quality assurance and regulatory compliance. Mr. Stephon earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Muhlenberg College and his M.S. in Chemistry from Lehigh University.

"I am also very pleased to announce the recent appointments of Denise Kerton to senior director, human resources and David D. Christ, Ph.D. to senior director, DMPK," said Mr. Peacock.

Denise Kerton has joined Adolor as senior director, human resources with over 16 years experience in the industry. Ms. Kerton was previously executive vice president for global human resources and facilities with Omincare Clinical Research, Inc./IBAH. Prior to Omnicare, Ms. Kerton held several human resource positions with progressive responsibilities with Wyeth.

Ms. Kerton earned her B.S. in Management Science from Kean University and her M.S. in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

David D. Christ, Ph.D. has been appointed to the position of senior director, DMPK. Prior to joining Adolor, Dr. Christ held positions of increasing responsibility in drug discovery and development in drug metabolism, most recently at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and at DuPont Pharmaceuticals for 14 years. Dr. Christ has authored several preclinical sections of IND and NDA submissions.

Dr. Christ earned his Doctorate and Masters in Pharmacology from Medical University of South Carolina.

About Adolor Corporation

Adolor Corporation is a development stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of proprietary pharmaceutical products for the treatment of pain and the side effects that are caused by current pain treatments. The Company has a number of small molecule product candidates that are in various stages of development ranging from preclinical studies to Phase 3 clinical trials.

Adolor's lead product candidate, alvimopan, is designed to selectively block the unwanted effects of opioid analgesics on the gastrointestinal tract. Alvimopan is a potential first-in-class compound that is being evaluated in acute and chronic indications, including management of postoperative ileus and for the treatment of bowel dysfunction associated with the chronic use of opioids.

In April 2002, Adolor entered into a collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline for the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization of alvimopan for certain indications.

Note to Editors: Ultracet(TM) and Ultram(TM) are trademarks of Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc.

This release, and oral statements made with respect to information contained in this release, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include those which express plan, anticipation, intent, contingency or future development and/or otherwise are not statements of historical fact.

These statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties known and unknown, which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.

Further information about such risks and uncertainties may be found in Adolor's filings with the Securities Exchange Commission, including but not limited to Adolor's Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 filed March 18, 2003.

We urge you to carefully review and consider the disclosures found in that filing which is available in the SEC EDGAR database at www.sec.gov and from Adolor on its website at www.Adolor.com.

This press release is available on the website http://www.adolor.com.