Last November, the international organization released a report that examined the efforts of the world’s 12 largest drugmakers to ensure that poor people have access to medicines, but the industry fared poorly across the board. In reaching its conclusion, Oxfam examined pricing, R&D initiatives for drugs for neglected diseases, patents and donations. (Here it is).

And so the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited the drugmakers to respond, but only six have done so. Roche and Lilly flat out declined to reply. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi-Aventis and Wyeth never bothered to reply at all. Pfizer says it will sometime soon. The companies that did respond were Abbott Labs, AstraZeneca, Glaxo, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Novartis. You can read their responses here.

In his rejoinder, Oxfam executive Jeremy Hobbs says nothing about the lack of response from so many large drugmakers, apparently preferring to let the silence speak for itself. But he defends Oxfam’s position point by point and maintains that “Oxfam’s measures of success are not out on a limb.”

“Oxfam acknowledges that its briefing paper is tough but believes that this is appropriate. It is fair and is consistent with Oxfam’s approach towards this issue in the past. Oxfam’s primary goal remains achieving what is best for developing countries and people living in poverty,” he writes. “Until the fundamental tension between its existing business model and the obligations of developing countries to promote the right to health is resolved, Oxfam believes that the industry will engender serious reputational risks, jeopardise its licence to operate and potentially fail to deliver value.”