COPD Drug Pipeline: 73 Assets by Phase

How many COPD drugs are in each phase of development?

Douglas Insights counts 19 COPD candidates in Phase III, 26% of the 73 assets in development; Phase II holds 36 and Phase I holds 18.

Phase I/II candidates sit in the Phase I row and Phase II/III candidates in the Phase II row, so each COPD asset appears in exactly one row. The 129 trials still recruiting or running carry 31% of the 410 registered trials in scope.

Which approved COPD medicines are still in trials?

4 medicines already on the market are still being tested in COPD Phase IV trials; Revefenacin has the most, with 12 registered trials.

Post-approval COPD trials test new doses, new patient groups and head-to-head comparisons. They set the standard of care that every candidate in development will be measured against, so the paid review profiles each one.

How many COPD trials are recruiting patients now?

66 COPD trials are recruiting patients and 38 more have not started recruiting yet, out of 410 interventional trials in scope; together they make up 25% of the trial base.

Terminated, suspended and withdrawn COPD trials stay in the trial base so that a stalled programme is visible, but a candidate whose only trials stopped is no longer counted as in development.

Which companies lead the COPD pipeline?

AstraZeneca leads the COPD pipeline with 5 candidates; the top 5 sponsors hold 27% of the 73 assets, and 46 sponsors run at least one.

Industry sponsors lead 246 of the 410 COPD trials (60%); universities, hospitals and public funders lead the rest. A sponsor is credited with an asset when it is the lead sponsor on most of that asset's industry trials.

Which drug types and mechanisms dominate the COPD pipeline?

Mechanism and drug-type classification for the 73 COPD candidates is done by the research desk asset by asset, each with a cited source, and is published in the paid review together with the white-space map.

What COPD trial readouts are coming next?

10 COPD candidates in Phase II or later have a registered primary completion date in the next 12 months; the next three are below, each linked to its registry record.

Primary completion is the date a sponsor expects the last patient to finish the main measurement, so data usually follow within months. Dates marked estimated are the sponsor's own forecast on the registry and often move.

How many COPD readouts fall in each quarter?

26 COPD candidates in Phase II or later reach registered primary completion over the next eight quarters, with the most, 9, due in Q4 2027.

Each candidate is counted once, at its next readout. The paid catalyst calendar names every readout with its trial, sponsor and design, adds filings and regulatory decisions, and runs 24 months ahead.

Which countries host the most COPD trials?

United States hosts the most COPD trials, with sites in 137 of the 410 studies (33%); trials in scope run in 70 countries in all.

A multinational COPD trial is counted once in every country where it has a site, so the shares add up to more than 100%. Country spread shows where sponsors are building the evidence that regulators in each market will ask for.

Where are COPD drugs being tested?

137 of the 410 COPD trials (33%) have a site in the United States, 146 (36%) in Europe and 103 (25%) in China; 32 of the 73 candidates in development are tested in the US.

Each region's trials are the evidence its regulator will review: the FDA in the United States, the EMA (with the MHRA and Swissmedic) in Europe, the NMPA in China and the PMDA in Japan. A multinational COPD trial counts once in every region where it has a site, so the shares add up to more than 100%. A candidate tested only outside the US and Europe is often a licensing opportunity for sponsors in those markets.

What has changed in the COPD pipeline since the last update?

Since 3 Oct 2026, the COPD pipeline count moved by +2 assets to 73, Phase III moved by 0 and the trial base by 0.

How does Douglas Insights count the COPD pipeline?

Douglas Insights read 410 interventional trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov for the conditions "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease" and updated since 3 Oct 2021, then grouped every drug or biologic named in them into 73 unique candidates.

1. Code names, generic names and brand names of the same molecule are merged into one candidate, and every merge is reviewed by the research desk.
2. A candidate counts when it has a trial that is recruiting, running, or completed in the last 24 months, and at least one industry-sponsored trial.
3. Its phase is the highest phase among those trials; placebo, standard-of-care and comparator arms are not candidates.
4. Each figure on this page is drawn from one frozen dataset that passes ten checks before release, and the owner approves every edition.

Read the full approach on the research methodology page, or browse other Pharmaceuticals research.

Frequently asked questions about the COPD pipeline

Research & citation

This review was researched, written and reviewed by the Douglas Insights Research Desk under the Douglas Insights editorial standards. Material errors are logged in the corrections log. No section is sponsored.

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