It was known from early on that the arm for severe cases had trouble recruiting the target amount of patients. The study design clearly forbade patients who had

It was known from early on that the arm for severe cases had trouble recruiting the target amount of patients. The study design clearly forbade patients who had received prior treatments with other antivirals. In the beginning when testing was scarce and hospitalization was very delayed that was not an issue for recruitment. As tests became more available and patients were hospitalized earlier and with national guideline recommending antivirals it became increasingly harder to recruit patients who could meet stringent trial conditions. It is likely that they ended that arm early so that they could deblind the trial and publish the data sooner. If they really wanted to withhold information the way to do it is to prolong the trial so that data could not be published at all.