An expert panel of Japan's health ministry has endorsed the production and sales of a new drug for Alzheimer's disease.

Donanemab has been developed by US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and is designed to remove an abnormal protein called amyloid beta. The protein is known to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and destroy nerve cells, and cause the neurodegenerative disease.

Donanemab is expected to suppress the progression of the disease by binding an artificially-produced antibody to the amyloid beta and removing it.

Eli Lilly filed an application to the Japanese health ministry for approval of the drug in August last year.

The ministry's panel said on Thursday that it had confirmed the drug is effective and there is no serious concern about its safety.

The drug can be administered for people who have mild cognitive impairment, which is the pre-stage of dementia, and those at early stages of dementia.

The health ministry is expected to formally approve the drug.

Donanemab will be the second drug for Alzheimer's disease to be approved in Japan that directly targets the cause of the disease and remove it. The first drug, lecanemab, which was developed by domestic firm Eisai and its US partner Biogen, was approved last year.