It's very likely the patient was in the one third of all the patients getting the placebo. As I understand most clinical trials, even those administering the drug don't know if it's the real thing, or the placebo the patient is receiving. When the trial concludes, the data is unblinded and the data between those who received the drug, and those who received the placebo are compared, hopefully at that time a significant benefit can be seen.
If the trial has built in peeks at the data, it is unblinded at that point, essentially three things are possible at that time. If sufficient improvement isn't seen, the trial can be stopped for futility. If the trial appears to be providing improvement that should satisfy approval in time, it's recommended that the trial continue. Finally, if the data is truly superior, the clinician may recommend going to the FDA for early approval. I do not know whether peeks have been done in the trial, but even if they have, and if the patient in question was reviewed, I don't believe that he's told that he didn't receive the drug, but I'm not certain of that.
Gary
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