Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh quý 2/2026 của QT Imaging (QTI): Doanh thu tăng 103%, tái khẳng định dự báo 39 triệu USD

Các điểm chính

• QT Imaging đạt doanh thu quý 2 năm 2026 là 7,4 triệu USD, tăng 103% so với 3,7 triệu USD của cùng kỳ năm trước, chủ yếu nhờ bàn giao 15 máy quét Breast Acoustic CT so với 8 máy trong quý 2 năm 2025.
• Biên lợi nhuận gộp giảm từ 50% xuống 41%. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết biên lợi nhuận quý 2 năm 2026 phù hợp với dự báo cho doanh số bán hàng tại Mỹ, trong khi cùng kỳ năm trước được hưởng lợi từ chi phí giá bình quân gia quyền của hàng tồn kho thấp hơn.
• Công ty đã bàn giao 28 máy quét và đạt doanh thu 14 triệu USD trong nửa đầu năm 2026, so với 14 máy quét và 6,5 triệu USD trong nửa đầu năm 2025.
• Ban lãnh đạo tái khẳng định dự báo doanh thu năm 2026 đạt khoảng 39 triệu USD, dựa trên số lượng đặt hàng tối thiểu của nhà phân phối và đóng góp dự kiến từ doanh số bán hàng trực tiếp.
• QT Imaging dự kiến bàn giao 15 máy quét tại Mỹ trong quý 3 và 17 máy trong quý 4. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng số lượng máy bàn giao sẽ tăng trong nửa cuối năm.
• Tiền và tiền gửi bị hạn chế sử dụng đạt tổng cộng khoảng 14,2 triệu USD tính đến ngày 7 tháng 8 năm 2026, sau khi thu hồi 7,4 triệu USD khoản phải thu ghi nhận vào ngày 30 tháng 6.

Dữ liệu tài chính trọng yếu

Trong 6 tháng đầu năm 2026, doanh thu đạt 14 triệu USD nhờ bàn giao 28 máy quét. Kết quả này so với 6,5 triệu USD và 14 máy quét được bàn giao trong cùng kỳ năm trước.

Kết quả kinh doanh và hoạt động

Hơn 12.000 phụ nữ hiện đã được chụp bằng hệ thống Breast Acoustic CT. QT Imaging đang mở rộng tổ chức thương mại tại Mỹ, đồng thời duy trì đối tác phân phối độc quyền với NXC Imaging, một công ty con của Canon Medical Systems United States.

Công ty đã bổ sung các giám đốc bán hàng khu vực cho thị trường miền Đông và miền Tây nước Mỹ. Đội ngũ bán hàng trực tiếp đang hướng tới các trung tâm chẩn đoán hình ảnh và bệnh viện, đồng thời tiếp tục tham gia vào phân khúc y học chức năng. Ban lãnh đạo hiện không kỳ vọng sẽ bổ sung thêm nhân sự bán hàng trong năm 2026 do cần đánh giá nhu cầu và kiểm soát chi phí hoạt động.

Trên thị trường quốc tế, QT Imaging có quan hệ đối tác với Gulf Medical ở Ả Rập Xê Út, Al Naghi Medical ở Các Tiểu vương quốc Ả Rập Thống nhất và Re-invent Pharma ở Pakistan. Ban lãnh đạo cho biết một số hệ thống có thể được gửi sang Pakistan trong vài tháng tới. Công ty cũng đang tìm hiểu quan hệ đối tác phân phối tại Israel và có kế hoạch xin phê duyệt từ cơ quan quản lý tại Qatar và Bahrain trước khi tập trung vào các hoạt động CE và MDR vào năm tới.

Sau khi được phê duyệt AMAR tại Israel, máy quét đầu tiên tại thị trường này dự kiến sẽ được lắp đặt tại Rambam Health Care Campus. Hệ thống này sẽ hỗ trợ một nghiên cứu lâm sàng trên phụ nữ có nguy cơ mắc ung thư vú di truyền và đánh giá vai trò tiềm năng của công nghệ này trong quy chuẩn chăm sóc y tế tại Israel.

Trong nửa đầu năm, QT Imaging đã nhận được hai khoản cấp phép từ FDA cho cấu hình máy quét cải tiến và phần mềm hỗ trợ đo thể tích nhằm đánh giá thời gian nhân đôi tổn thương. AMA cũng đã phê duyệt mã CPT Nhóm III riêng biệt, có hiệu lực từ ngày 1 tháng 1 năm 2027, nhằm hỗ trợ theo dõi mức độ sử dụng và thu thập dữ liệu lâm sàng cũng như kinh tế y tế.

Công ty báo cáo độ biến thiên đo tốc độ âm thanh dưới 1% giữa các máy quét trong một nghiên cứu về độ lặp lại và độ tái lập tại nhiều cơ sở. Các nghiên cứu bổ sung đang đánh giá kết quả chụp QT so với chụp cộng hưởng từ (MRI), các quy trình chẩn đoán hình ảnh và đáp ứng điều trị trong quá trình hóa trị tân bổ trợ.

QT Imaging đang di dời trụ sở chính và hoạt động sản xuất đến cơ sở rộng 22.000 foot vuông tại Petaluma, California. Cơ sở này cung cấp diện tích hoạt động gấp hơn 2,5 lần so với hiện tại, đồng thời giảm chi phí thuê trên mỗi foot vuông khoảng 55%. Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến hoàn thành sản xuất quý 3 tại Novato và bắt đầu bàn giao hàng quý 4 từ Petaluma.

Dự báo của Ban lãnh đạo

QT Imaging tái khẳng định kỳ vọng đạt doanh thu khoảng 39 triệu USD trong năm 2026, hơn gấp đôi mức 18,9 triệu USD đạt được trong năm 2025. Triển vọng này dựa trên giả định về số lượng máy bàn giao theo mức đặt hàng tối thiểu của nhà phân phối và đóng góp từ doanh số bán hàng trực tiếp.

Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến bàn giao 15 máy quét tại Mỹ trong quý 3 và 17 máy trong quý 4. Chi phí hoạt động hàng quý dự kiến tăng nhẹ so với mức 4,9 triệu USD của quý 2 do tuyển dụng nhân sự bán hàng và việc chuyển một số chi phí nghiên cứu lâm sàng sang nửa cuối năm.

Rủi ro và các vấn đề cần theo dõi

• Biên lợi nhuận gộp giảm 9 điểm phần trăm so với cùng kỳ năm trước xuống 41% do mức so sánh của năm trước được hưởng lợi từ chi phí hàng tồn kho thấp hơn.
• Chi phí hoạt động tăng 69% so với cùng kỳ năm trước, và ban lãnh đạo dự kiến chi phí sẽ tiếp tục tăng nhẹ trong nửa cuối năm.
• Khoản vay dài hạn có bảo đảm ưu tiên 10,1 triệu USD đã sửa đổi hiện có thời hạn đáo hạn vào ngày 31 tháng 3 năm 2029, nhưng lãi suất hàng năm đã tăng từ 10% lên 12%.
• Ban lãnh đạo thừa nhận rằng việc triển khai và lắp đặt máy quét cho khách hàng cuối cùng tiến triển chậm hơn so với mong muốn. Đội ngũ bán hàng của QT Imaging sẽ hợp tác với NXC để đẩy nhanh tiến độ lắp đặt trong thời gian còn lại của năm 2026.
• Các diễn biến địa chính trị đã ảnh hưởng đến hoạt động thương mại ở một số khu vực thuộc Vùng Vịnh, mặc dù ban lãnh đạo cho biết đã xuất hiện những tín hiệu kết nối lại từ phía khách hàng.
• Mã CPT Nhóm III tạo ra một khung thu thập dữ liệu nhưng yêu cầu QT Imaging phải xây dựng bằng chứng lâm sàng và kinh tế y tế trước khi tiến hành chiến lược hoàn trả chi phí bảo hiểm y tế.

Tóm tắt phần Hỏi & Đáp với chuyên gia phân tích

Ban lãnh đạo cho biết tổ chức bán hàng trực tiếp vừa mở rộng đã đi vào hoạt động, đã triển khai Salesforce và đang phát triển các cơ hội tại các trung tâm chẩn đoán hình ảnh và bệnh viện. QT Imaging không có kế hoạch tuyển thêm nhân sự bán hàng trực tiếp trong năm 2026.

Về bằng chứng lâm sàng, ban lãnh đạo đã mô tả một nghiên cứu mới của Mayo Clinic trên hơn 100 bệnh nhân. Mục tiêu nghiên cứu bao gồm việc xác nhận QT có thể phát hiện các tổn thương được tìm thấy qua MRI và đánh giá xem liệu công nghệ này có thể giảm bớt việc sinh thiết bằng cách phân loại lại một số kết quả BI-RADS 4 thành BI-RADS 3 hay không. Việc thu thập dữ liệu dự kiến sẽ sử dụng mã CPT Nhóm III bắt đầu từ ngày 1 tháng 1 năm 2027.

Ban lãnh đạo hiện không kỳ vọng sẽ có thêm các mã hoàn chi phí bổ sung. Ưu tiên trước mắt là thu thập dữ liệu về mức độ sử dụng và dữ liệu lâm sàng theo mã Nhóm III đã được phê duyệt.

Công ty đang vận hành cả cơ sở hiện tại và cơ sở mới trong giai đoạn chuyển giao. Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến việc di dời toàn bộ sang Petaluma sẽ mất khoảng 1 đến 1,5 tháng mà không làm gián đoạn các đợt bàn giao hàng dự kiến trong quý 3.

Toàn văn Biên bản Cuộc họp Báo cáo Kết quả Kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

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.

Phần hỏi đáp

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.