Chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a very common and
frequently fatal airway disease. Current therapies for COPD depend
mainly on long-acting bronchodilators, which cannot target the pathogenic
mechanisms of chronic inflammation in COPD. New pharmaceutical therapies
for the inflammatory processes of COPD are urgently needed. Several
anti-inflammatory targets have been identified based on increased
understanding of the pathogenesis of COPD, which raises new hopes
for targeted treatment of this fatal respiratory disease. In this
review, we discuss the recent advances in bioactive low-molecular-weight
drugs (LMWDs) for the treatment of COPD and, in addition to the first-line
drug bronchodilators, focus particularly on low-molecular-weight anti-inflammatory
agents, including modulators of inflammatory mediators, inflammasome
inhibitors, protease inhibitors, antioxidants, PDE4 inhibitors, kinase
inhibitors, and other agents. We also provide new insights into targeted
COPD treatments using LMWDs, particularly small-molecule agents.