NOVELOS THERAPEUTICS CLOSES $5.5 MILLION

NOVELOS THERAPEUTICS CLOSES $5.5 MILLION

MADISON, Wisc. (February 21, 2013)

- Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQX: NVLT), a pharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for the treatment and

diagnosis of cancer, today announced the closing of a public offering of 11,000,000 units at $0.50 per unit for gross proceeds

of $5,500,000. Each unit consisted of one share of our common stock, a Class A Warrant with a one-year term to purchase one-half

of a share of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.50 per share and a Class B Warrant with a five-year term to purchase

one share of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.50 per share.

Burrill Securities LLC acted as a placement

agent in a co-lead capacity for the offering. Dawson James Securities, Inc. acted as a sub-agent in a co-lead capacity.

The Benchmark Company, LLC acted as a sub-agent.

This announcement shall not constitute

an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any offer or sale of these securities

in any jurisdiction or to any person in any particular jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful

prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The offering was made only by means of

a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, copies of which may be obtained from Burrill Securities LLC, Prospectus Department,

One Embarcadero Center, Suite 2700, San Francisco, CA 94111, 415-591-5400 or email: ksheinerman@b-c.com. Before any investment,

an investor should read the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including the information incorporated by reference

therein, for more complete information about Novelos and this offering.

J. Patrick Genn, Vice President of IR, Novelos Therapeutics,

Inc., Madison, Wisc. & Boston, Mass., Ph: (858) 775-7456, Email: jpgenn@novelos.com

Anne Marie Fields, Senior Vice President, LHA, Ph: (212) 838-3777,

Email: afields@lhai.com, @LHA_IR_PR

This news release contains forward-looking

statements. You can identify these statements by our use of words such as "may," "expect," "believe,"

"anticipate," "intend," "could," "estimate," "continue," "plans,"

or their negatives or cognates. Such statements are valid only as of today, and we disclaim any obligation to update

this information. These statements are only estimates and predictions and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties

that may cause actual future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made. These statements are based on

our current beliefs and expectations as to such future outcomes. Drug discovery and development involve a high degree of risk.

Factors that might cause such a material difference include, among others, uncertainties related to the ability to attract and

retain partners for our technologies, the identification of lead compounds, the successful preclinical development thereof, the

completion of clinical trials, the FDA review process and other government regulation, our pharmaceutical collaborators'

ability to successfully develop and commercialize drug candidates, competition from other pharmaceutical companies, product pricing

and third-party reimbursement.