COVID-19 therapeutics currently under development can be broadly divided into two categories. The first is an antiviral drug with in vitro antiviral activity that inhibits the growth of the virus in infected organs in the body. Second, they do not act directly on the virus, but act on the body to ameliorate cytokine storms and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by an overactive defense response to infection. For an entirely new drug, the safety of the drug has to be confirmed in pre-clinical animal studies, and the safety and dosing of the drug in humans must be established in Phase I and Phase II studies. However, if the drug has already been administered to humans through drug repositioning, the initial steps in development can be shortened. Antiviral drugs include remdesivir, favipiravir, ciclesonide, nelfinavir, nafamostat and ivermectin. On the other hand, bioactive agents include dexamethasone, tocilizumab, baricitinib, and eritran. These drugs and other candidates and others are summarized and briefly presented in this section.