Almost 16 million people in US suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and an additional 16 million COPD sufferers remain undiagnosed. COPD is a condition that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Long term smoking is found to be the main contributor of COPD. Though current drug therapies for COPD do not offer a cure for this debilitating condition, they aim to provide a best possible functional ability and quality of life. This article describes the available treatments for the symptoms of the diseases and the proceeding research for various drugs for the treatment of COPD.