Talcott Mountain Academy Student's Hiccupops Set to Launch in Spring 2012

When it comes to getting rid of the hiccups, there are many self-proclaimed solutions, from breathing into a paper bag to scaring the hiccups out of a person.

Talcott Mountain Academy eighth-grader Mallory Kievman turned to science to create her own cure in 2010, hiccup-stopping lollipops called Hiccupops.

“I was having problems with the hiccups myself. So, I did some research on rumored cures and I found three that worked for me. One of them was a [regular] lollipop, so I decided to combine the other two into the form of a lollipop,” Kievman said.

She entered the idea in her private school’s annual science and invention fair last year. During her research, an article she read about the gag reflex led her to study the glossopharyngeal nerve in cats. She also learned that “an irritation in your throat and mouth causes your diaphragm to move up and down in jerky motions,” triggering hiccups.

“When the diaphragm jerks downwards, it sucks air into the lungs and the air rushing in hits your epiglottis, which is the flap of cartilage in the back of your throat, and the air is stopped by the epiglottis.” Kievman said. “That’s basically what causes the hiccup.”

Talcott Mountain Academy Dean Lydia Gibb said she was impressed with the research that Kievman put into the cause of hiccups and the science behind the cures and why the Hiccupop works.

“Absolutely, I’d try it out,” she said.

As one of the winners of Talcott Mountain Academy’s invention fair last year, Kievman advanced to the Connecticut Invention Convention later that school year in 2011. She won a patent award.

“Hiccupops are now patent pending,” Kievman said, noting that the process might not be completed until her junior year in high school. “You can start selling them sooner. We’re planning for a spring 2012 launch, which is exciting.”

The amber-colored lollipops include a “proprietary blend” of apple cider vinegar, different acids and sweeteners, Kievman said. She tested the lollipops on herself, as well as siblings and friends who had the hiccups.

“Basically, the ingredients in the lollipop over-stimulate a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup-reflex arc,” Kievman said. “When these nerves are over-stimulated, they send conflicting messages to your central nervous system. The conflicting messages essentially cancel each other out.”

Her dad, Adam has helped her a lot with the start-up company, she said. Her mother, Shannon teaches second and third grade at the academy.

Kievman and her family are looking into distributors across the country to sell the Hiccupops. For now, she is making Hiccupops at home, but the Kievmans are considering commercial manufacturers to produce the lollipops.

“We’re basically open to a lot of different things, whether it’s local or bigger,” Kievman said. “As big as people are willing to go with it.”

Danny Briere, CEO of Startup Connecticut, helped arrange a trip for Kievman to ring the New York Stock Exchange bell on Jan. 30, along with representatives of seven other Startup America Partnership firms.

“It was insane. I really enjoyed it,” Kievman said.

The Hiccupop is a promising venture, Briere wrote to Patch.

“The company has great legs to it, and it will be launching a product within months,” he wrote in an e-mail. “ This startup is rare in that you hardly ever see a product that you can envision being around 100 years from now, but I could see Hiccupops still on the shelves in 2112.”

Kievman has made smaller inventions at home like a pulley-lever system to turn off her room lights from her top bunk, but the Hiccupop is the first she has pursued commercializing.

Her project at this year’s school science fair examined Marley versus Mozart and “how different types of music affect comprehension.” On the day of the fair, Feb. 8, she visited the state Senate on the opening day of the new session as a guest of State Sen. Steve Cassano, who represents her hometown, Manchester.

“He stood up and explained who I was and what my invention/startup was, which was really exciting,” Kievman said.

The Hiccupop is only the beginning of Kievman’s future in medicine.

“I definitely want to go into medicine and I do want to become an entrepreneur,” Kievman said.

At age 13, she is already well on her way, but for now she awaits Hiccupop’s arrival to stores and the outcome of her applications to Miss Porter’s School, Westminster School and Loomis Chaffe for high school.

“A year ago, if you had asked me about starting a business, I thought it was very easy. But it’s definitely proved not to be,” Kievman said.  “It’s come much further than I expected it to.”