QT Imaging (QTI) Q2 2026 Earnings Call: Umsatz steigt um 103 %, Prognose von 39 Mio. USD bekräftigt

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• QT Imaging erzielte im 2. Quartal 2026 einen Umsatz von 7,4 Millionen US-Dollar, was einem Anstieg von 103 % gegenüber 3,7 Millionen US-Dollar im Vorjahreszeitraum entspricht. Haupttreiber war die Auslieferung von 15 Brust-Akustik-CT-Scannern gegenüber 8 Systemen im 2. Quartal 2025.
• Die Bruttomarge sank von 50 % auf 41 %. Das Management erklärte, dass die Marge im 2. Quartal 2026 ihren Prognosen für den US-Vertrieb entsprach, während die Vorjahresperiode von niedrigeren gewichteten durchschnittlichen Vorratskosten profitierte.
• In der ersten Hälfte des Jahres 2026 lieferte das Unternehmen 28 Scanner aus und erwirtschaftete einen Umsatz von 14 Millionen US-Dollar, verglichen mit 14 Scannern und 6,5 Millionen US-Dollar im ersten Halbjahr 2025.
• Das Management bestätigte die Umsatzprognose für 2026 von rund 39 Millionen US-Dollar, die auf Mindestabnahmemengen der Vertriebspartner und erwarteten Beiträgen aus dem Direktvertrieb basiert.
• QT Imaging plant im 3. Quartal 15 Scanner in den USA auszuliefern und 17 im 4. Quartal. Das Management rechnet im Verlauf der zweiten Jahreshälfte mit einer Zunahme der Platzierungen.
• Die liquiden Mittel und Barmittel mit Verfügungsbeschränkung beliefen sich zum 7. August 2026 auf rund 14,2 Millionen US-Dollar, nachdem die zum 30. Juni ausgewiesenen Forderungen in Höhe von 7,4 Millionen US-Dollar beglichen wurden.

Wichtigste Finanzdaten

In den ersten sechs Monaten des Jahres 2026 erreichte der Umsatz 14 Millionen US-Dollar bei 28 ausgelieferten Scannern. Im Vorjahreszeitraum lagen der Umsatz bei 6,5 Millionen US-Dollar und die Auslieferungen bei 14 Geräten.

Geschäftliche und operative Entwicklung

Mittlerweile wurden mehr als 12.000 Frauen mit der Brust-Akustik-CT-Plattform untersucht. QT Imaging baut seine Vertriebsorganisation in den USA aus und behält gleichzeitig seine exklusive Vertriebspartnerschaft mit NXC Imaging, einer Tochtergesellschaft von Canon Medical Systems United States, bei.

Das Unternehmen stellte regionale Vertriebsleiter für den Osten und Westen der USA ein. Das Direktvertriebsteam konzentriert sich auf Bildgebungszentren und Krankenhäuser sowie weiterhin auf das Segment der funktionellen Medizin. Das Management rechnet derzeit für den Rest des Jahres 2026 mit keinen weiteren Verstärkungen des Vertriebsteams, da es die Nachfrage evaluiert und die Betriebsausgaben kontrolliert.

International unterhält QT Imaging Partnerschaften mit Gulf Medical in Saudi-Arabien, Al Naghi Medical in den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten und Re-invent Pharma in Pakistan. Das Management teilte mit, dass in den nächsten Monaten mehrere Systeme nach Pakistan geliefert werden könnten. Zudem prüft das Unternehmen eine Vertriebspartnerschaft in Israel und plant, behördliche Zulassungen in Katar und Bahrain zu beantragen, bevor im nächsten Jahr die CE- und MDR-Aktivitäten im Fokus stehen.

Nach der AMAR-Zulassung in Israel ist der erste Scanner in diesem Markt für den Rambam Health Care Campus vorgesehen. Er wird eine klinische Studie mit Frauen mit erblich bedingtem Brustkrebsrisiko unterstützen und die potenzielle Rolle der Technologie im Rahmen der israelischen Standardversorgung untersuchen.

Im ersten Halbjahr sicherte sich QT Imaging zwei FDA-Zulassungen für eine erweiterte Scanner-Konfiguration sowie für eine Software zur volumetrischen Messung zur Beurteilung der Läsionsverdopplungszeit. Die AMA genehmigte zudem einen eigenen Kategorie-III-CPT-Code mit Wirkung zum 1. Januar 2027, um die Erfassung der Nutzung sowie klinischer und gesundheitsökonomischer Daten zu unterstützen.

Das Unternehmen berichtete in einer multizentrischen Studie zur Wiederholbarkeit und Reproduzierbarkeit über eine Abweichung der Schallgeschwindigkeitsmessung von weniger als 1 % zwischen den Scannern. Weitere Studien vergleichen QT-Scans mit MRT, diagnostischen Bildgebungspfaden und dem Ansprechen auf die Behandlung während einer neoadjuvanten Chemotherapie.

QT Imaging verlegt seinen Hauptsitz und seine Fertigung in ein 22.000 Quadratfuß großes Gebäude in Petaluma, Kalifornien. Der Standort bietet mehr als das 2,5-Fache der derzeitigen Betriebsfläche bei einer Reduzierung der Mietkosten pro Quadratfuß um rund 55 %. Das Management plant, die Produktion für das 3. Quartal in Novato abzuschließen und die Auslieferungen für das 4. Quartal von Petaluma aus zu starten.

Prognose des Managements

QT Imaging bestätigte seine Erwartung eines Umsatzes von rund 39 Millionen US-Dollar für das Jahr 2026, was mehr als eine Verdopplung gegenüber den 18,9 Millionen US-Dollar im Jahr 2025 bedeutet. Der Ausblick setzt Auslieferungen im Rahmen der Mindestabnahmemengen von Vertriebspartnern sowie Beiträge aus dem Direktvertrieb voraus.

Das Management plant für das 3. Quartal 15 Scanner-Auslieferungen in den USA und 17 im 4. Quartal. Es wird erwartet, dass die quartalsweisen Betriebsausgaben gegenüber dem Niveau des 2. Quartals von 4,9 Millionen US-Dollar leicht steigen werden, was auf Einstellungen im Vertrieb und die Verlagerung einiger Ausgaben für klinische Studien in die zweite Jahreshälfte zurückzuführen ist.

Risiken und zu beobachtende Bereiche

• Die Bruttomarge fiel im Jahresvergleich um neun Prozentpunkte auf 41 %, da der Vorjahresvergleich von niedrigeren Vorratskosten profitierte.
• Die Betriebsausgaben stiegen im Jahresvergleich um 69 %, und das Management rechnet für die zweite Jahreshälfte mit einem weiteren leichten Anstieg.
• Das geänderte vorrangig besicherte Laufzeitdarlehen über 10,1 Millionen US-Dollar läuft nun am 31. März 2029 aus, jedoch stieg der jährliche Zinssatz von 10 % auf 12 %.
• Das Management räumte ein, dass die Implementierung und Aufstellung der Scanner bei Endkunden langsamer als gewünscht vorangeschritten sind. Das Vertriebsteam von QT Imaging wird mit NXC zusammenarbeiten, um die Platzierungen im verbleibenden Verlauf des Jahres 2026 zu beschleunigen.
• Geopolitische Entwicklungen haben die Geschäftstätigkeit in Teilen der Golfregion beeinträchtigt, obwohl das Management Anzeichen für ein erneutes Kundenengagement anführte.
• Der Kategorie-III-CPT-Code schafft zwar den Rahmen für die Datenerfassung, erfordert jedoch von QT Imaging den Aufbau klinischer und gesundheitsökonomischer Evidenz, bevor die Erstattungsstrategie vorangetrieben werden kann.

Wichtigste Punkte der Analysten-Fragerunde

Das Management gab bekannt, dass die neu erweiterte Direktvertriebsorganisation einsatzbereit ist, Salesforce implementiert hat und Vertriebschancen bei Bildgebungszentren und Krankenhäusern entwickelt. QT Imaging plant im Jahr 2026 keine weiteren Einstellungen im Direktvertrieb.

Hinsichtlich der klinischen Evidenz beschrieb das Management eine neue Studie der Mayo Clinic mit mehr als 100 Patientinnen. Zu den Zielen gehört es zu bestätigen, dass QT Befunde identifiziert, die durch MRT erkannt werden, sowie zu prüfen, ob die Technologie Biopsien reduzieren kann, indem bestimmte BI-RADS-4-Befunde als BI-RADS 3 reklassifiziert werden. Die Datenerfassung wird voraussichtlich ab dem 1. Januar 2027 unter Nutzung des Kategorie-III-CPT-Codes erfolgen.

Das Management rechnet derzeit nicht mit zusätzlichen oder ergänzenden Erstattungscodes. Die unmittelbare Priorität liegt auf der Erfassung von Nutzungs- und klinischen Daten im Rahmen des genehmigten Kategorie-III-Codes.

Das Unternehmen betreibt während des Übergangs sowohl seine bestehenden als auch die neuen Räumlichkeiten. Das Management geht davon aus, dass der vollständige Umzug nach Petaluma etwa einen bis anderthalb Monate dauern wird, ohne die geplanten Auslieferungen für das 3. Quartal zu beeinträchtigen.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Welcome to the QT Imaging Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Tirth Patel, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Tirth Patel

Thank you. This is Tirth Patel with CORE IR. Thank you for participating in today's call. Joining me from QT Imaging are Dr. Raluca Dinu, Chief Executive Officer; and Jay Jennings, Chief Financial Officer.

I want to remind listeners that comments made during this call by management will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Any statements that are not statements of historical facts should be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. All forward-looking statements are based on QT Imaging's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to QT Imaging and relate to, among other things, QT Imaging's Breast Acoustic CT scanner, including its product commercialization and manufacturing, the evolution of QT Imaging into a scalable imaging platform, the QTI Cloud Platform and SaaS model, performance of software enhancements, new product development and introduction and product sales growth and projected revenues. For a list and description of the risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, please see its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Furthermore, the content of this call contains information that is accurate only as of the date of this live broadcast, August 12, 2026. QT Imaging disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any financial or operational projections or other forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Dr. Raluca Dinu. Raluca?

Raluca Dinu

Thank you, Tirth, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for spending time with us and for your interest in QT Imaging. The second quarter was another strong period of execution for QT Imaging as we continued to scale our commercial business and build the foundation for broader adoption of Breast Acoustic CT imaging technology.

Our mission is to transform breast health by giving women and physicians a better approach to breast imaging. Today's pathway still has important limitations. Mammogram can be less effective in dense breasts and requires compression. MRI can be costly and burdensome, and conventional ultrasound remains highly operator dependent. QT Imaging has built -- was built to address these challenges with a differentiated 3-dimensional imaging platform that is radiation-free, compression-free and quantitative. Our vision extends beyond delivering better imaging experience. We are building a platform designed to provide objective, reproducible information that can support more personalized breast health management and over time, enable quantitative biomarkers and AI-driven applications.

During the quarter, we shipped 15 Breast Acoustic CT scanners in line with our United States shipment plan and generated revenue of $7.4 million, an increase of 103% compared with the second quarter of 2025. For the first 6 months of 2026, we shipped 28 scanners and generated $14 million in revenue compared to 14 scanners and $6.5 million in revenue during the same period last year.

To put that in perspective, QT Imaging generated no revenue in 2023, $4.9 million in revenue in 2024 and $18.9 million in 2025. With our 2026 revenue guidance of approximately $39 million, we believe this trajectory demonstrates the continued scaling of our commercial business and the growing adoption of Breast Acoustic CT imaging modality. Most importantly, more than 12,000 women have now been imaged using Breast Acoustic CT scans today. For us, that milestone is about more than the growth of our installed base. It represents a growing body of real-world clinical experience with our technology and progress toward our ultimate objective, expanding the access to a more patient-centered quantitative approach to breast imaging.

As we enter the second half of the year, our focus is increasingly on translating this foundation into broader adoption. Let me start with our United States commercial strategy. In the United States, we continue to strengthen the commercial structure needed to support our next phase of growth. Under the leadership of our Chief Commercial Officer, Satrajit Misra, we expanded our United States commercial organization with the appointment of Jason Dyer, our Vice President, Regional Sales East; and Dave Reinhart as Vice President, Regional Sales West. This expanded team strengthens our ability to engage directly with imaging centers, clinicians and enterprise health systems while continuing to leverage our exclusive distribution partnership with NXC Imaging, a subsidiary of Canon Medical Systems United States.

By combining established distribution infrastructure with expanded direct commercial and business development capabilities, we're building a scalable commercial model designed to deepen customer engagement, accelerate clinical adoption and installed base growth and support sustainable long-term revenue growth and margin expansion.

Internationally, we continue to expand our commercial infrastructure through experienced regional partners with established market presence, local relationships and deep knowledge of their health care systems.

Our distribution partnerships with Gulf Medical in Saudi Arabia and Al Naghi Medical in United Arab Emirates, together with our sales agent partnership of Re-invent Pharma in Pakistan, provide a capital-efficient model for extending our commercial reach and supporting local market development. This partner-led approach enables QT Imaging to leverage established sales and service infrastructure while building the foundation for broader international adoption of Breast Acoustic CT imaging modality.

While geopolitical developments have impacted commercial activity in parts of the Gulf region, we are beginning to see encouraging signs of renewed customer engagement, supported by our regulatory authorization and distributor partnerships. On the regulatory front, we continue to expand our international commercial foundation. We received clearance from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, SFDA, for the QTI Breast Acoustic CT scanner, enabling us to market and sell our technology in Saudi Arabia. More recently, we received AMAR authorization from the Ministry of Health in Israel, enabling commercialization of the breast Acoustic CT scanner in the market. Together with our existing authorization in the United Arab Emirates, these milestones further strengthen our regulatory foundation across the Middle East and expand the market in which we can commercialize Breast Acoustic CT platform.

The first breast Acoustic CT scanner in Israel is going to Rambam Health Care Campus to support a planned clinical study in women with hereditary risk for breast cancer. This study provides an important opportunity to evaluate our radiation-free, compression-free quantitative imaging technology in a high-risk population where longitudinal imaging is particularly important and to generate additional evidence supporting its potential role in personalized breast health management.

During the quarter, we also strengthened our balance sheet through a $10 million underwritten public offering. In addition, we amended our senior secured term loan with Lynrock Lake, extending the maturity date by 2 years. Together, these actions provide additional financial flexibility as we continue to execute our commercial, clinical and strategic initiatives.

During the first half of this year, we secured 2 FDA clearances that expanded the capabilities of the Breast Acoustic CT system, including an enhanced scanner configuration that improves posterior breast imaging coverage and software functionality supporting volumetric measurements for lesion doubling time assessment. These enhancements reinforce QT Imaging strategy of continuously expanding the platform through innovation in both hardware and software.

A critical milestone during the first half of the year was the American Medical Association approval of a dedicated Category III CPT reimbursement code for our imaging modality. The code was released on July 1 and becomes effective January 1, 2027. It provides a standardized mechanism for reporting, utilization tracking and data collection and importantly, creates the framework to build the clinical and health economic evidence that can support future coverage decision.

We continue to strengthen the clinical expertise supporting the adoption of the Breast Acoustic CT platform. Our Clinical Advisory Board includes leaders across breast imaging, breast surgery and clinical practice, including Dr. Mary Yamashita of USC Keck School of Medicine; Dr. Barry Roseman, an MD Anderson-trained surgical oncologist and breast surgeon; and Dr. John Tentinger, a Mayo Clinic trained radiologist and early adopter of our imaging modality in his imaging center. Their complementary expertise is helping us strengthen physician education, clinical implementation and reader training as we support broader clinical adoption.

Additionally, we announced results from a multi-site study evaluating the repeatability and reproducibility of quantitative measurement generated by the Breast Acoustic CT platform. The results demonstrated less than 1% variability in speed of sound measurements across scanners under the study conditions. This level of consistency is important because quantitative imaging biomarkers must be reproducible across systems, locations and operators to reliably measure changes in breast tissue over time. We believe that these results reinforce the potential of our imaging platform to provide objective, reproducible quantitative information for longitudinal breast health management and precision breast care.

As reported previously, Mayo Clinic conducted a prospective feasibility study evaluating QT scan in the supplemental imaging setting. The study reported breast level agreement between QT scan and MRI and the identification of QT scan of all lesions considered suspicious on MRI. These pilot findings support the rationale for a second study involving more than 100 patients, which is expected to begin in the coming months.

We are also advancing a prospective clinical study with Dr. Barry Roseman to evaluate the Breast Acoustic CT technology in a diagnostic breast imaging pathway. This study will compare QT scan with established breast imaging modalities and where available, pathology with the goal of generating real-world clinical evidence supporting the diagnostic performance and broader adoption of our technology.

At Sunnybrook, ongoing 100-patient clinical study is evaluating QT scan versus MRI, and under our NIH contract, clinical work is evaluating advanced quantitative ultrasound findings in relation to treatment response in women receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Together, these programs are building complementary body of evidence across diagnostic performance, high-risk populations, quantitative reproducibility and treatment response monitoring, supporting our broader objective of establishing the Breast Acoustic CT imaging modality as a clinically validated quantitative breast imaging platform.

Innovation remained an important area of focus during the quarter. Software version 4.5.0 improved the spatial resolution of Breast Acoustic CT reflection imaging, providing radiologists with greater image detail and clear visualization of breast anatomy and tissue structures while maintaining processing time designed to support an efficient clinical workflow.

Our collaboration with Olea Medical was focused during the quarter on productization of the QT OLE Viewer as an advanced modality imaging solution for breast Acoustic CT platform. The viewer is being developed to provide physicians with an integrated environment for image visualization, correlation with other imaging modalities, quantitative assessment and longitudinal patient evaluation, while supporting more efficient clinical workflows.

In parallel, our collaboration with Intelerad provides a secure cloud and PACS infrastructure supporting image management, clinical and research connectivity and enterprise deployment of QT Imaging Precision Pathway. Building on this infrastructure, we continue to advance the QTI Precision Pathway cloud platform to support secure image management, clinical collaboration, quantitative analysis, software development and future AI-enabled application.

Our strategy is to build a platform that combines the Breast Acoustic CT scanner with software and cloud-based capabilities to enhance the value of each system across the installed database. In July, we announced the successful completion of our first routine FDA inspection since the inception of the company with zero Form FDA 483 observation. The inspector provided positive feedback regarding the organization of our quality management system and the responsiveness of our team. We believe this exceptional outcome reflects the quality culture we are building and the strength of the systems and processes supporting the manufacturing and commercialization of our technology.

During the quarter, we entered into an agreement to relocate our headquarters and manufacturing operations into a new 22,000 square foot facility in Petaluma, California. As reported previously, the new facility will provide more than 2.5x our current operational space while reducing the lease cost per square foot by approximately 55%. Put another way, we're more than doubling our real estate footprint at a comparable cost. This investment expands our manufacturing capacity, improves operating efficiency and provides the infrastructure needed to support future commercial growth.

Strengthening our scientific leadership is an ongoing priority. We recently appointed Dr. Julia Albright as our Chief Science Officer. Julia brings more than 3 decades of leadership experience across medical imaging, health care technology, artificial intelligence and enterprise software. In her role, she is helping align our scientific strategy, product innovation, engineering and clinical programs as we advance the QT Imaging platform. Collectively, this achievement demonstrates that we are building the commercial, clinical, regulatory and operational foundation needed to support broader adoption of Breast Acoustic CT platform.

As we look towards 2027, our focus is increasingly on accelerating adoption, expanding our installed base and leveraging the commercial infrastructure we are building today to support sustainable growth and margin expansion. At the same time, as we mentioned previously, our vision extends beyond the Breast Acoustic CT scanner itself. We're building a quantitative breast imaging platform that brings together advanced hardware, software, cloud infrastructure and over time, quantitative biomarkers and AI-enabled clinical applications. We believe this platform has the potential to increase the value of our growing installed base while providing physicians with objective reproducible information to support more personalized breast health management.

And now I will turn the call over to our CFO, Jay Jennings, to review our financial results. Jay?

Jay Jennings

Thank you, Raluca, and good afternoon, everybody. Revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was $7.4 million, an increase of 103% compared with $3.7 million for the second quarter of 2025. The increase was primarily attributable to the shipment of 15 Breast Acoustic CT scanners in the 2026 quarter compared with 8 in the prior year quarter.

Gross margin was 41% for the second quarter of 2026 compared with 50% for the second quarter of 2025. The gross margin for the second quarter of 2026 was in line with our projections for sales in the United States. The higher prior year gross margin reflected a lower weighted average cost of inventory sold.

Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2026 were $4.9 million compared with $2.9 million a year ago, with the increase reflecting higher employee compensation and benefits, professional service costs and marketing expenses. Operating loss for the second quarter of 2026 was $1.9 million compared with an operating loss of $1.0 million for the second quarter of 2025 and $2.3 million for the first quarter of 2026.

The net loss for the second quarter of 2026 was $11.1 million compared with a net loss of $4.0 million for the second quarter of 2025. The second quarter 2026 net loss included an $8.3 million noncash loss on debt extinguishment and modification associated with the amendment of our senior secured term loan with Lynrock Lake. Accounts receivable was $7.4 million as of June 30, 2026, primarily from the shipment of 15 scanners during June 2026 compared to $5.8 million as of December 31, 2025, primarily from the shipment of 12 scanners during December 2025. The accounts receivable of $7.4 million was paid during the beginning of August 2026.

Accordingly, as of August 7, 2026, cash and restricted cash totaled approximately $14.2 million compared with approximately $11.0 million as of June 30, 2026. Please see our Form 10-Q filed earlier today for further details regarding our second quarter and first half financial results.

During the quarter, we amended our credit agreement with Lynrock Lake, extending the maturity date of the $10.1 million senior secured term loan by 2 years from March 31, 2027, to March 31, 2029, and increasing the interest rate from 10% per annum to 12% per annum.

Now turning to 2026 financial guidance. We are affirming our expectation for revenue of approximately $39 million for the year, more than double 2025 revenue. This guidance is based on the expected shipment of scanners under distributor minimum order quantities as well as expected contributions from our direct sales efforts.

And now I'll turn the call back to Raluca.

Raluca Dinu

Thank you, Jay. As we look ahead, we believe QT Imaging is entering an important next phase. We have demonstrated commercial growth, expanded our United States and international infrastructure, strengthened our clinical and regulatory foundation and continue to advance the QT Imaging platform.

Our priorities for the remainder of 2026 are clear: One, accelerate commercial adoption and installed base growth; two, strengthen our clinical and scientific evidence; three, expand global market access; four, advance our quantitative imaging platform; and five, to continue scaling the business with operational discipline. We believe execution across these priorities position us well as we move towards 2027 and continue building the QT Imaging into a leading quantitative breast imaging company.

Thank you for your interest in QT Imaging and for your continued support. With that, we are ready to take questions. Operator?

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Jeffrey Cohen with Ladenburg Thalmann.

Fragen und Antworten

Jeffrey Cohen

We've got a few questions. So I guess, firstly, you did mention Pakistan at the beginning of the call. Could you bring us up to speed on what's going on there?

Raluca Dinu

Jeff, thank you so much for joining the call. Great to hear you. So we do have a sales agent agreement in Pakistan with a women-led company that's called Re-invent. And we do have a few systems that will hopefully go in the next few months towards that geography. FDA clearance is appropriate for Pakistan. So we do not need an additional regulatory clearance, but that is the plan, Jeff. Thank you so much for asking.

Jeffrey Cohen

Okay. Got it. And then could you talk about U.S. and the back half of the year and commercial activity as well as your few commercial adds internally and how that may work domestically with QT as well as with NXC in the U.S.

Raluca Dinu

Absolutely. So we are executing against our plan for shipments in the United States. So we shipped this quarter 15 scanners, and we do plan to ship another 15 scanners and 17, respectively, from Q3 and Q4 in the United States, obviously, through a very strong partnership with NXC Imaging. We do -- we did move on, as we discussed last quarter, Jeff, with us starting to strengthen our direct sales team. We do see progress with our direct sales team selling into at least 2 segments, definitely imaging centers and hospitals. It is more of a solution sale, technical sale, clinical sale in those segments. Thus, we have brought in the 2 very experienced sales VPs to cover the East Coast and the West Coast.

We are not going to continue hire up until we get our feet on the ground and the 2 sales managers start selling and growing the business in the United States. We do plan to have our direct sales taking on the responsibility in 2027 and ahead, obviously, with the support from NXC and other distribution partners as they move into 2027. Did that answer your question?

Jeffrey Cohen

Yes, perfect. A couple more, if I may. Cadence on back half placements for this year, would you expect a ramp through Q3 and Q4? Or would you expect them to be fairly even?

Raluca Dinu

Jeff, I had a hard time hearing the beginning of your question. Could you please repeat?

Jeffrey Cohen

Back half placements for the back half of the year, Q3 versus Q4, would you expect a gradual increase through the next 2 quarters or even...

Raluca Dinu

Correct. Correct. No, no. We do expect an increase in the placements in Q3 and Q4, and our team will help and NXC team through that.

Jeffrey Cohen

Got it. Okay. One for Jay, if I may, Jay, back half OpEx, is that $5 million number going to be fairly flat for the second half of the year per quarter?

Jay Jennings

Yes. We anticipate it going up a little bit with the hiring of the sales team as well as shifting of some of the clinical studies expenses from the first half of the year into the second half of the year.

Jeffrey Cohen

Got it. Okay. And then lastly, Raluca, you mentioned a QT versus MRI 100-patient study. Is that a new study? And what do you expect to derive from that as far as coding or reimbursement down the road?

Raluca Dinu

So Jeff, it's a new study at Mayo, and we -- what we're looking towards -- we're looking out at the results is the following: Number one, to make sure that all the findings from MRI are discovered by QT. And second, to reduce the number of biopsies. So reducing the BI-RADS 4 findings to BI-RADS 3. If the woman is a BI-RADS 3 category, there's no need for her to take -- to get the biopsy. So that's the goal for that study. All this data would be recorded under the Category III CPT reimbursement code starting on January 1, 2027.

Jeffrey Cohen

Okay. So you would not expect any additional or add-on codes to the Cat 3 starting in January?

Raluca Dinu

Not for now, not for now. We have to start recording all the data against our code, Jeff, before we can improve or add to the reimbursement strategy.

Jeffrey Cohen

Okay. And then lastly for us, the facility in Temecula, have you 100% completely moved to that facility? Or you're still operating the 2 in...

Raluca Dinu

No, we're operating the 2. Very good question. We are operating the 2. We got the keys for the facility this week. It will take us about a month, 1.5 months to be moved completely there. We do plan to finish just the production in our Novato facility, so we do not bother the shipments for Q3 and then to have our shipments in -- for Q4 out of Petaluma facility.

Operator

Our next question comes from Ben Haynor with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Benjamin Haynor

First off, just, kind of, following up on the direct sales force. It sounds if I'm hearing you correctly, that you'll begin to add some additional folks as sales materialize from the gentlemen that you've recently hired. Am I hearing you correctly there? And then I know you provided quite a bit of detail on who the targets are, but is there anything else worth sharing on kind of the direct sales strategy?

Raluca Dinu

So Ben, thanks for asking. So we have now 3 very senior sales guys who joined the team. We got ourselves set up in Salesforce. We have leads and we got ourselves operational from the back end of the sales organizing the sales. These guys are extremely experienced and they'll start bringing in opportunities through 2026. I do not foresee any additions to the team in 2026 for 2 reasons. Number one, we're trying to keep track of our operational costs, obviously. And the second one, the request -- the strategic direction from the team was to collect enough information about the 2 market segments that these direct sales guys will address the imaging centers and the hospitals.

And obviously, still selling into the functional medicine space. We absolutely respect that segment, too. But to get all the data points and know exactly what we need to hire in 2027 if we so decide.

Benjamin Haynor

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. And then congrats on the Israeli clearance. Just wondering what the commercialization strategy is there. I mean, is that something where you do yourself? Do you sign a distribution agreement? And then the study that you have planned there, it sounds like high-risk longitudinal data, any more, how many women, how long on the data? That would be great to hear.

Raluca Dinu

Absolutely. So Ben, yes, we are extremely pleased with the fact that Rambam Hospital has our offer for clinical study. We are going to focus exactly, as you said, on high-risk women and longitudinal study, but also on trying to understand the standard of care in Israel and what else can be added with our technology within their standard of care. So these are the 2 dimensions for the clinical study. But to answer your question, we are exploring a relationship with the distributor in Israel. We would like to go through that, and we'll report back in the next call. The plan is to do have a partnership with the distributor in Israel.

Benjamin Haynor

Okay. Got it. And then on international, I guess, any more countries in the works beyond Israel, Pakistan that you mentioned on the call and the existing, kind of, Gulf states?

Raluca Dinu

So Ben, we're trying to stay away from the mess and the conflict there. We are looking into Bahrain and Qatar. These are the 2 additional countries for us to seek regulatory approvals. And certainly, now we are focused on building the business in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Israel. But that's the 2 Qatar and Bahrain and then we focus on CE and MDR for next year.

Benjamin Haynor

Okay. Got it. And then just -- I don't know if there's any more you can share or anything you can share on, kind of, the utilization on the installs that you are seeing it still, kind of, stick at the same, kind of, level? Any movement there? What can you tell us?

Raluca Dinu

So we do see a slow -- I mean, slow move. It's never as fast as we wanted, Ben, of implementation of the scanners or sharing of the scanners all the way to the customers. This is why Satrajit and his 2 hires will focus on helping NXC. NXC is making progress on having the scanners at the customers. But we do feel that even for the functional medicine space, we need to help. And for the next 6 -- sorry, 5 months, we will focus on helping NXC having all those scanners at the customers.

Benjamin Haynor

Okay. Congrats on the all the progress.

Raluca Dinu

I appreciate it. Thank you so much, Ben.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dr. Raluca Dinu for closing remarks.

Raluca Dinu

Thank you very much. I want to thank everyone for joining us today and for your continuing interest in QT Imaging. We are energized by our progress and remain focused on disciplined execution during the second half of the year. We look forward to discussing our continued progress during our next conference call when we report third quarter results. Until then, have a nice evening. Thank you so much.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.