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Hot New Drugs in Palliative Care: Max Stevenson, Alex McPherson, and Nisha Iyer

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Release Date: 10/01/2026

Can We Prevent Cognitive Decline in Aging? Multi-Domain Trials with Laura Baker and Ellen Binder show art Can We Prevent Cognitive Decline in Aging? Multi-Domain Trials with Laura Baker and Ellen Binder

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Can we prevent age-related cognitive decline, and perhaps even head off Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias before they start? Pharmaceutical companies are spending billions searching for a magic bullet pill to answer that question. But what if the solution requires more than a single drug? What if real prevention demands a multi-domain approach that combines targeted diet, exercise, social engagement, and vascular risk factor management among other things? On today’s episode, we explore multi-domain interventions for cognitive risk reduction with two leading experts: Laura D....

info_outline When to Start or Stop Statins in Older Adults: Tim Anderson, Rita Redberg, Mike Rich show art When to Start or Stop Statins in Older Adults: Tim Anderson, Rita Redberg, Mike Rich

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

In 1987, lovastatin became the first FDA-approved statin in the United States. Four decades later, statins are among the most frequently prescribed medications nationwide, with atorvastatin topping the overall list. Now, updated guidelines have expanded statin eligibility to cover nearly every older adult. On today’s episode, we are joined by experts Tim Anderson, Rita Redberg, and Mike Rich to discuss when to start, and when to stop, statin therapy in older adults. Topics we talk about on starting and stopping statins in older adults include: Updates and changes for statin use in older...

info_outline Hot New Drugs in Palliative Care: Max Stevenson, Alex McPherson, and Nisha Iyer show art Hot New Drugs in Palliative Care: Max Stevenson, Alex McPherson, and Nisha Iyer

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

When you think of palliative care pharmacotherapy, you probably think about the tried-and-true mainstays of our field like morphine, haloperidol, and senna. But the landscape of palliative symptom management is rapidly evolving, with hot new drug classes and rediscovered old-school opioids (and not just buprenorphine!) On today’s episode of the GeriPal Podcast, we sit down with three expert palliative care clinical pharmacists, Max Stevenson, Alex McPherson, and Nisha Iyer, to talk about 5 hot new drugs (or rediscovered): Suzetrigine: It works for bunions (at least as well as opioids,...

info_outline Interactive Maps of Aging: Judy Salerno and Lindsay Goldman show art Interactive Maps of Aging: Judy Salerno and Lindsay Goldman

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Love the story Judy Solerno tells at the start of this podcast. The story is about how mapped out cases of Cholera in London in the year 1854.  He was able to identify a concentration of cases near a neighborhood water pump.  Simply removing the handle from the pump halted the outbreak.  This is one of the earliest recorded uses of maps for public health purposes. Our guests today, Judy Salerno (President Emeritus of the ) and Lindsay Goldman (CEO of ) have done some wonderful work creating detailed, in-depth, interactive maps of aging in New York City. Go to and try it...

info_outline Flu, COVID, RSV, & Shingles Vaccines in Older Adults: Ken Schmader and Sharon Brangman show art Flu, COVID, RSV, & Shingles Vaccines in Older Adults: Ken Schmader and Sharon Brangman

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Just in time for respiratory virus season, this episode of the podcast breaks down essential vaccine guidance for older adults. From flu, COVID-19, and RSV to an added bonus deep dive into shingles, we cover everything you need to know to protect older adults this season. Our expert guests include: Kenneth Schmader, MD: A geriatrician and vaccine researcher who helped develop the zoster vaccine. Ken serves on the Working Groups for the Herpes Zoster, Influenza, COVID-19, RSV and General Adult Immunization Guidelines for the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on...

info_outline Financial Mistakes and Exploitation in Dementia: Lauren Nicholas, Duke Han, Jason Karlawish show art Financial Mistakes and Exploitation in Dementia: Lauren Nicholas, Duke Han, Jason Karlawish

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Difficulty managing money is often one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, frequently appearing years before an official diagnosis. This loss of financial capacity leaves individuals vulnerable to costly mistakes and exploitation, threatening the financial security and quality of life of entire families. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Dr. Duke Han, and Dr. Jason Karlawish to examine the intersection of cognitive decline, financial decision-making, and patient protection. We covered a lot of topics, including these key ones: The...

info_outline Weight loss, GLP-1s and Sarcopenia: A Podcast with John Batsis, Shen Dewar, Aruna Josyula show art Weight loss, GLP-1s and Sarcopenia: A Podcast with John Batsis, Shen Dewar, Aruna Josyula

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

GLP-1 receptor agonists (the "Ozempics of the world") have been a truly revolutionary pharmacological advance in modern medicine. In randomized controlled trials (RCTs), these agents have been shown to do much more than just reduce weight, including significantly reducing cardiovascular events, lowering all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes, and even slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease. But as we see their use rapidly expand among older adults, we have to ask: at what cost? In geriatrics, weight loss is rarely simple. In older bodies, GLP1s carry increased risks,...

info_outline Who Should Palliative Care See? Diane Meier, Bob Arnold, and Justin Sanders show art Who Should Palliative Care See? Diane Meier, Bob Arnold, and Justin Sanders

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

As Diane Meier remarks to start today’s podcast, palliative care has come a long way from the days when we were the “brink of death” consult. We’re seeing patients earlier and earlier in the course of illness.  In fact, the for specialist palliative care is arguably stronger in the outpatient setting than the inpatient setting. In some ways, as Eric remarked, we are a victim of our own success. We’ve pushed on the boundaries of seeing patients earlier in the course of illness, we’ve demonstrated remarkable value to our colleagues and health systems: now they want us to see...

info_outline LATE vs Alzheimer’s: Biomarkers, Mixed Dementia, and Clinical Realities with Nate Chin & Sterling Johnson show art LATE vs Alzheimer’s: Biomarkers, Mixed Dementia, and Clinical Realities with Nate Chin & Sterling Johnson

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Up until just a couple years ago, an 85-year-old patient presenting with gradual, amnestic memory loss was almost automatically presumed to have Alzheimer’s disease. However, new biomakers and the recognition of conditions like Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) are reshaping our understanding of cognitive decline in older adults. It’s looking more clear that pure Alzheimers dementia is rare in older adults, and co-occurring pathologies that may include Alzheimer's, LATE, Lewy Body, and vascular neuropatholigies, are the rule rather than the exception.  In...

info_outline Video-Enhanced Advance Care Planning: Joshua Lakin and Kei Ouchi show art Video-Enhanced Advance Care Planning: Joshua Lakin and Kei Ouchi

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

Can simple, evidence-based video decision aids—paired with structured clinician training—improve Advance Care Planning (ACP) documentation and goal-concordant care? That’s the question we pose in this week's podcast with Dr. Joshua Lakin and Dr. Kei Ouchi. We break down the methodologies behind two major clinical trials in which they were involved that implemented this video-enhanced approach. The f was a multicenter, parallel randomized trial of 598 seriously ill older adults in emergency departments (EDs). It tested whether watching a 5-minute video and having a short, 10-minute...

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More Episodes

When you think of palliative care pharmacotherapy, you probably think about the tried-and-true mainstays of our field like morphine, haloperidol, and senna. But the landscape of palliative symptom management is rapidly evolving, with hot new drug classes and rediscovered old-school opioids (and not just buprenorphine!)

On today’s episode of the GeriPal Podcast, we sit down with three expert palliative care clinical pharmacists, Max Stevenson, Alex McPherson, and Nisha Iyer, to talk about 5 hot new drugs (or rediscovered):

  1. Suzetrigine: It works for bunions (at least as well as opioids, maybe?), but can it work in palliative care?  My take-home point here is that its not ready for prime time, but you may have a different take after listening.

  2. Levorphanol: The forgotten opioid that looks a lot like methadone but more NMDA.  Should we bring it back to the living?  Maybe if it were cheaper (why does an old drug cost this much?)

  3. Tapentadol: Basically a better version of tramadol (aka Tamadont) that combines mu-opioid agonism with norepinephrine reuptake inhibition. Expensive but our guests varied in the potential benefit here.

  4. Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORAs): Rerouting sleep management away from sedating Z-drugs and benzodiazepines to these new agents seems reasonable (again if cost was no concern) given that they appear safer (check out this JAGS article on DORAs and the risk of falls)

  5. GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: Wait, GLP1’s in palliative care (not just stopping it when we get consults for weight loss)? There may be a couple reasons to consider…

Also check out some of these podcasts that we talked about in this episode: