Abstract: medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.08.20095679; this version posted May 11, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . Article title: Negative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 PCR conversion in Response to different therapeutic interventions. Short-running title: Negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR conversion Authors’ information: Mohammed Hassan Shabrawishi1, Abdallah Y Naser2, Hassan Alwafi3, Ahmad Mansoor Aldobyany4, Abdelfattah Ahmed Touman4 1 Pulmonology department, Al Noor Specialist Hospital, Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 2 Faculty of Pharmacy, Isra University, Amman, Jordan. 3 Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Umm Alqura University, College of Medicine, Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 4 Pulmonology department, King Abdullah Medical City, Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Corresponding author: Abdelfattah Ahmed Touman, Pulmonology consultant Pulmonology department, King Abdullah Medical City, Mecca, Saudi Arabia Telephone: +966530059224 Email: (abdotouman@gmail.com) Take home message: Prescribing antimalarial medications for patients with COVID-19 was not shown to shorten the disease course nor to accelerate the negative PCR conversion rate. Number of words in abstract: 247 words Number of words in main body text: 2,962 words Number of tables in main body text: 3 table Number of figures in main body text: 1 figures Number of references in main body text: 23 1 NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice. medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.08.20095679; this version posted May 11, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . ABSTRACT (247) BACKGROUND: Despite lack of convincing evidence of the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, it has been suggested to be used for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 to accelerate the negative virus conversion. We aimed to explore the association between negative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 PCR clearance and different therapeutic interventions. METHODOLOGY: This was a retrospective cohort study of 93 patients who were admitted to medical ward with a PCR confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and met the inclusion criteria in a tertiary hospital in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. There were three interventional subgroups (group A (n=45): who received antimalarial drug only classified as (A1), combined with azithromycin (A2) or combined with antiviral drugs (A3)), and one supportive care group (group B) (n=48). The primary and secondary endpoints of the study were achieving negative SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal PCR sample within five days or less from the start of the intervention and 12 days or less from the diagnose, respectively. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 43.9 years (SD:15.9). A median time of 3.00 days (IQR:2.00–6.50) needed from the time of starting the intervention/supportive care to the first negative PCR sample. There was no statistically significant difference neither between the percentage of patients in the interventional group and the supportive care group who achieved the primary or the secondary..