After an outbreak of atypical pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, China, there were epidemiological alerts due to the unknown factor. On January 7, 2020, Chinese scientists isolated a strain of coronavirus, in which the etiologic agent was identified. It quickly spread around the world and, therefore, it was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. From then on, the need arises to search for treatments and prevention of the disease, through some existing drugs, such as Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin and Azithromycin. Objective: The objective of this study is to discuss existing drugs used for the possible treatment of COVID-19, clarify their mechanisms of action and studies that prove their effectiveness or not. Methodology: The narrative review of the literature was based on a search in the Google Scholar, Capes, Scielo and PubMed journals databases published in the last 3 years, using the terms: “covid-19 drugs in vitro/in vivo”; "SARS-CoV-2"; “coronavirus”. Results: From the analysis of the articles, it can be noted that there is not enough evidence to prove the effectiveness of these drugs in the fight against COVID-19. The studies that showed results in combating SARS-CoV-2 were in vitro, in addition to being at higher doses than recommended for humans. Conclusion: Therefore, its therapeutic safety for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 has not yet been clarified and determined, thus, its indiscriminate use can potentiate adverse effects.