MELBOURNE, Australia , Feb. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Q-Sera Pty Ltd, an Australian venture-backed company, today announced the first product launch of its patented evacuated blood collection technology, with the launch by Japanese medical device company, Terumo Corporation of its VenoJect II RAPClotTM blood collection tubes in the Japanese market.
Q-Sera’s ecarin (RAPClot) technology involves using a certain class of proteins (prothrombin activators) originally identified from the venom of specific snakes to accelerate the clotting of blood in an improved blood collection tube to rapidly produce high quality serum for biochemical analysis, even from anticoagulated blood.
Terumo Corporation has the exclusive rights to use Q-Sera’s recombinant RAPClot technology to manufacture and market its VenoJect II RAPClot tubes in Japan.
The development of VenoJect II RAPClot next-generation blood collection tubes involved the scaling-up of Q-Sera’s recombinant ecarin and manufacture at commercial scale by CMO, Bora Biologics to a high-quality level using standard biopharmaceutical processes.
Terumo’s rapid serum tubes offers the first real innovation in the blood collection tube market in decades, reducing the turnaround time from sample collection to serum analysis compared with current technologies and improving laboratory management and patient care. Even in anticoagulated blood, they rapidly produce high quality serum in five minutes.
Wataru Ninokura, Director of Essential Medical Products, Terumo said, “VenoJect II RAPClot tubes are a true innovation in blood collection tubes and have the potential to dramatically improve issues such as coagulation time, heparinized blood, and fibrin strands in tests with serum. It will be a great pleasure for us to be able to directly contribute to improving the accuracy of diagnosis.”
Q-Sera CEO Michael Grant added, “Japan has a history of innovation in blood collection tubes with Terumo Corporation a leader in this sector, and we are delighted to have achieved our first commercial launch, working in partnership with them, offering improved laboratory management and patient outcomes.
“This is the first stage of our commercial roll out and we are now actively pursuing partners for blood collection tube markets and diagnostic sectors outside Japan, to bring the advantages of our RAPClot technology to global partners worldwide.”
About Q-Sera
Q-Sera is a start-up company that is commercialising intellectual property developed at The University of Queensland (UQ) and licensed to Q-Sera by UniQuest, UQ’s commercialisation company. Q-Sera’s licensed intellectual property includes active proteins and formulations for a novel serum collection tube. The technology behind Q-Sera involves using a certain class of proteins (prothrombin activators) originally identified from the venom of specific snakes to accelerate the clotting of blood in an improved blood collection tube to produce high quality serum for biochemical analysis. The company’s lead active protein RAPClot™ is manufactured recombinantly at commercial scale and is supported by investment from two of Australia’s premier life science investors, Brandon BioCatalyst [formerly the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF)], managed by Australia’s largest life science focused venture capital firm Brandon Capital Partners, and Uniseed, Australia’s longest running venture fund operating at selected Australian Universities as well as the national science agency CSIRO with additional investment from the UniQuest Extension Fund. The company has also benefited from the support of the Australian Government, through Austrade.
For more information visit: www.q-sera.com and follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/q-sera-pty-ltd/
About Terumo
Terumo (TSE: 4543) is a global medical innovation company. Guided by an unwavering commitment to patients, and driven by the passion of our associates, we strive to fulfil our Group Mission of “Contributing to Society through Healthcare.” Founded in Tokyo in 1921, we provide a comprehensive range of solutions in the fields of therapeutic procedures, hospital operations, and life sciences in more than 160 countries and regions.
For more information visit: https://www.terumo.com/.
For more information:
Q-Sera T: +61 477358623, E: michael.grant@q-sera.com
Media enquiries:
In Australia T: +61 416 565 332, E: rheenan@bcpvc.com
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