Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the most relevant diseases with increasing incidence, morbidity and mortality. Although there have been therapeutic advances in the past decades, there is a lot of room for improvement. There are several new therapeutic strategies and a variety of novel drugs under development that are based on established concepts. These new drugs have the following targets: i) smoking; ii) airways obstruction; iii) inflammation; iv) protease-antiprotease imbalance; and v) regeneration of lung tissue. In the next few years, there will be bronchodilators with longer duration of action that may improve adherence. In addition, there will be fixed combinations of different bronchodilators and bronchodilators with corticosteroids, which may have a positive impact on parameters such as exacerbations, dyspnea and exercise capacity. Novel anti-inflammatory concepts that go beyond corticosteroids are in early phases of development and it remains to be seen how effective they are and what side effects they may carry.