May 28 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk said it

retains about 60% of the list price of its popular diabetes and

obesity drugs - Ozempic and Wegovy - after rebates and fees paid

to middlemen in the United States, according to a Bloomberg

report on Tuesday.

The Danish drugmaker's comments, made in a letter to Senator

Bernie Sanders on Friday, come amid an ongoing investigation by

a U.S. Senate committee into the higher prices of the drugs in

the United States compared to other countries.

Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to a Reuters

request for comment.

The company argued in the letter to Senator Sanders, who has

been pressing to lower the cost of Wegovy, that the focus on the

list price of the drugs was misplaced because a part of it is

paid to middlemen in the complex US health care system,

Bloomberg said in its report on Tuesday.

The drugs belong to a class of treatments known as GLP-1s,

which help regulate blood sugar and cause the stomach to empty

more slowly. Analysts estimate the market for these drugs could

be about $150 billion by the early 2030s as their use expands

beyond obesity and diabetes and supply constraints ease.

A 2 milligram dose of Ozempic carries a list price of

$935.77 in the United States, while Wegovy has a list price of

$1,349.02 per package, according to the drugmaker's website.

Novo said "under current market conditions, the company

expects that net prices will continue to decline for both

Ozempic and Wegovy," according to the report.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)