MedImmune produced this drug several years ago in an effort to protect the salivary glands from radiation. Many posters here have used it with varying success. While not speaking for them, my impression from the hospitals that I talk with and the posters here is this. It may indeed offer some radioprotection, but it does not work for everyone, and it does not offer 100% effectiveness even in the best cases. It has a brutal nausea component to its use, which can be offset to some extent by anti-nausea meds prior to use. Were it available to me, I would take a shot at it and see if I could tolerate the side effects and hope for the protection it may provide.

Many docs do not tell their patients about it because they have had such difficulty with past ones tolerating its use. But I think doctors recommendation or not, it's worth an attempt. You can always discontinue its use if it knocks you for a loop with no further ill effects. And if you find you can tolerate it, you may have a bit more saliva when the dance is over, and that will certainly improve your quality of life, and the health of your mouth long term.

Respectfully to Dr. Mike, stated by someone who is only a lay person - MedImmune has tried to play on some other collateral benefits of the drug ancillary to its original intended use, to boost use and sales (effects not well documented or significantly supported by evidence of consequence). In that case antitumerogenic mean the opposite of what you have stated; that it aids other treatments, not that it interferes with them.