COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research ( 682 total candidates in March 2021), with 411 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of March 2021. Drug development is a multistep process, typically requiring more than five years to assure safety and efficacy of the new compound. Several national regulatory agencies, such as the EMA and the FDA, approved procedures to expedite clinical testing. By March 2021, dozens of potential post-infection therapies were in the final stage of human testing – Phase III–IV clinical trials. Candidates upright=1.7|Evidence network of COVID-19 clinical trials of 15 therapeutic candidates. Circles represent interventions or intervention groups (categories). Lines between two circles indicate comparisons in clinical trials.According to one source (as of August 2020), diverse categories of preclinical or early-stage clinical research for developing COVID-19 therapeutic candidates included: antibodies (81 candidates) antivirals (31 candidates) cell-based compounds (34 candidates) RNA-based compounds (6 candidates) scanning compounds to be repurposed (18 candidates) various other therapy categories, such as anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, interferon, protein-based, antibiotics, and receptor-modulating compounds , among others for a total of some 511 compounds under development in August . Pivotal Phase III trials assess whether a candidate drug has efficacy specifically against a disease, and – in the case of people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infections – test for an effective dose level of the repurposed or new drug candidate to improve the illness (primarily pneumonia) from COVID-19 infection. For an already-approved drug (such as hydroxychloroquine for malaria), Phase III–IV trials determine in hundreds to thousands of COVID-19-infected people the possible extended use of an already-approved drug for treating COVID-19 infection. As of August 2020, over 500 candidate therapeutics were in preclinical or a stage of Phase I–IV development, with new Phase II–III trials announced for hundreds of therapeutic candidates during 2020. According to two organizations tracking clinical trial progress on potential therapeutic drugs for COVID-19 infections, 29 Phase II–IV efficacy trials were concluded in March  or scheduled to provide results in April from hospitals in China – which experienced the first outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019. Seven trials were evaluating repurposed drugs already approved to treat malaria, including four studies on hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine phosphate. Repurposed antiviral drugs make up most of the Chinese research, with 9 Phase III trials on remdesivir across several countries due to report by the end of April. Other potential therapeutic candidates under pivotal clinical trials concluding in March–April are vasodilators, corticosteroids, immune therapies, lipoic acid, bevacizumab, and recombinant angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, among others. During March 2020, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) initiated an international COVID-19 vaccine development fund, with the goal to raise for vaccine research and development, and committed to investments of in vaccine development across several countries. The Canadian government announced in funding for 96 research projects on medical countermeasures against COVID-19, including numerous vaccine candidates at Canadian universities, with plans to establish a "vaccine bank" of new vaccines for implementation if another COVID-19 outbreak occurs. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested 150 million in April for development of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. According to a source reporting early-stage clinical trials on potential COVID-19 post-infection therapies, there were over 230 Phase II trials underway or planned to start by October 2020.
COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research ( 506 total candidates in April 2021), with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021. Drug development is a multistep process, typically requiring more than five years to assure safety and efficacy of the new compound. Several national regulatory agencies, such as the EMA and the FDA, approved procedures to expedite clinical testing. By June 2021, dozens of potential post-infection therapies were in the final stage of human testing – Phase III–IV clinical trials. Candidates upright=1.7|Evidence network of COVID-19 clinical trials of 15 therapeutic candidates. Circles represent interventions or intervention groups (categories). Lines between two circles indicate comparisons in clinical trials.According to one source (as of August 2020), diverse categories of preclinical or early-stage clinical research for developing COVID-19 therapeutic candidates included: antibodies (81 candidates) antivirals (31 candidates) cell-based compounds (34 candidates) RNA-based compounds (6 candidates) scanning compounds to be repurposed (18 candidates) various other therapy categories, such as anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, interferon, protein-based, antibiotics, and receptor-modulating compounds . Pivotal Phase III trials assess whether a candidate drug has efficacy specifically against a disease, and – in the case of people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infections – test for an effective dose level of the repurposed or new drug candidate to improve the illness (primarily pneumonia) from COVID-19 infection. For an already-approved drug (such as hydroxychloroquine for malaria), Phase III–IV trials determine in hundreds to thousands of COVID-19-infected people the possible extended use of an already-approved drug for treating COVID-19 infection. As of August 2020, over 500 candidate therapeutics were in preclinical or a stage of Phase I–IV development, with new Phase II–III trials announced for hundreds of therapeutic candidates during 2020. According to a tracker of clinical trial progress on potential therapeutic drugs for COVID-19 infections, 29 Phase II–IV efficacy trials were concluded in March 2020 or scheduled to provide results in April from hospitals in China – which experienced the first outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019. Seven trials were evaluating repurposed drugs already approved to treat malaria, including four studies on hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine phosphate. Repurposed antiviral drugs make up most of the Chinese research, with 9 Phase III trials on remdesivir across several countries due to report by the end of April. Other potential therapeutic candidates under pivotal clinical trials concluding in March–April are vasodilators, corticosteroids, immune therapies, lipoic acid, bevacizumab, and recombinant angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, among others. During March 2020, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) initiated an international COVID-19 vaccine development fund, with the goal to raise for vaccine research and development, and committed to investments of in vaccine development across several countries. The Canadian government announced in funding for 96 research projects on medical countermeasures against COVID-19, including numerous vaccine candidates at Canadian universities, with plans to establish a "vaccine bank" of new vaccines for implementation if another COVID-19 outbreak occurs. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested 150 million in April for development of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. 
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According to a source reporting early-stage clinical trials on potential COVID-19 post-infection therapies, there were over 230 Phase II trials underway or planned to start by October 2020.