Interesting. When the original report was submitted to HN last week, the top comment was from someone working in the field basically saying it was a nothingburger. [1] This latest development doesn't necessarily contradict that, but it does show that executives at least saw the issue as rather serious.
I work in this field and find it quite serious. As physicians we must hold ourselves to a higher standard and remain above reproach. Nearly everything we do depends on patient's trusting us and without that it becomes much harder to effectively help people.
As far as whether drug trials are influenced by industry sponsorship, I think the answer is a resounding yes[0], though others might disagree. But if we are talking about hidden industry sponsorship, we erode trust and generate questionable results.
Or they don’t think it’s serious and merely are forced to provide satisfying optics to keep people from reacting to press coverage. They might see pressure to force the resignation as a stupid, inefficient thing in this case, but nonetheless required or they’ll get slated and donors will react to the bad press.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17944235