Pharmaceutical industry execs have contributed more than three times as much to the Obama campaign as they have to McCain’s, according to a Bloomberg News report citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Sen. Obama has received $450,094 in donations from industry execs and employees, compared with $132,575 received by Sen. McCain — even though 52% of industry donations have gone to Republicans in this cycle and industry donors overwhelmingly supported President Bush in the last presidential election, giving him nearly twice as much as they did John Kerry. 

Republican lobbyist John Feehery told Bloomberg that a lack of pharma donations for McCain may help him in the general election.  “He does go after these companies and they don’t like it.  This solidifies McCain’s reputation as someone who fights special interests,” Feehery said in the piece.

McCain’s stance in favor of reimportation of drugs from Canada is a particular sore point for the industry. The Arizona Republican has also proposed sharply scaling back the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which drug companies pushed hard for.