Hello everyone and welcome. I'm Larry Heaton, Chief Executive Officer of Zomedica. Thanks for joining us for another Friday at Four webinar. We appreciate you taking the time to be with us today. Today's session will include a focused discussion on the companion animal vet tech market, the largest and most active segment in veterinary medicine, along with a review of our first quarter 2026 financial results. Companion animal medicine continues to benefit from strong long-term trends in pet ownership, advanced veterinary care, and increasing pet owner engagement. Companion animal practices also operate with high patient volumes, repeat visits, and growing demand for advanced diagnostic and treatment solutions. These dynamics create meaningful opportunities for technologies that improve workflow efficiency, support clinical decision-making, and enhance patient care. For Zomedica, this market aligns closely with our strategy of building an integrated veterinary health ecosystem across diagnostics, therapeutics, monitoring, and workflow support technologies.
Our product portfolio is designed to support veterinarians and clinical teams throughout the patient care journey, from diagnostics and treatment to ongoing monitoring and follow-up care. We'll also spend some time today discussing the important role veterinary technicians play within modern veterinary practice. Vet tech professionals are often central to workflow efficiency, patient care coordination, and technology adoption within clinics, making them important end users of many of Zomedica's platforms. Throughout the webinar, we'll highlight how our products are designed with both veterinarians and veterinary technicians in mind, supporting everyday clinical workflows while helping improve patient care and operational efficiency. Our goal today is to provide greater insight into both our recent financial performance and how we are positioning the company for sustainable long-term growth within companion animal medicine. Once we have finished with the main comments, then we'll turn to a question-and-answer session.
With that, let's get started.
Companion animal vet tech: market landscape and growth drivers. The U.S. veterinary services market is valued at $72.6 billion in 2026, with steady growth projected through 2030 and beyond. This reflects durable demand for companion animal care, but the market structure itself is transforming. Private clinical practice still dominates, but we're seeing meaningful growth in emergency, critical care, and referral or specialty practices. This shift is significant because it means higher acuity cases, more diagnostics per patient, and equipment-intensive workflows. The market isn't just getting bigger, it's becoming more complex, and complexity creates demand for tools that save time, improve efficiency, and help clinics handle higher volume with leaner teams. Veterinary medicine is undergoing a generational shift. Recent data shows women represent 61.7% of the U.S. veterinary workforce, and millennials are the largest age cohort at 39%.
This is a younger, more educated profession than it was a decade ago, and that has real implications for technology adoption. Younger veterinarians are notably more open to digital tools, workflow automation, and data-driven medicine. They expect integration, they're willing to adopt solutions that reduce friction, and they value efficiency gains. That's a significant tailwind for veterinary technology vendors. At the same time, the profession is under operational strain. Staffing shortages, burnout, and retirement pressure are documented across multiple studies. Clinics are managing persistent imbalances between patient demand and available clinician capacity. This creates a powerful economic incentive. Tools that expand capacity, reduce labor dependence, or improve decision-making speed have substantial value. In this environment, solutions that solve a pain point and show clear ROI win adoption. Where clinics invest, clear growth patterns. Practice spending is concentrated in three areas: diagnostics, therapeutics, and patient monitoring.
These aren't peripheral categories; they're core to how clinics generate revenue and manage patient care. Market size tells the story. Diagnostics, $9.7 billion in 2026, projected to reach $21.6 billion by 2034, roughly 7% annual growth. Therapeutics, $42.1 billion in 2022, projected to reach $72.4 billion by 2030. Strong, sustained demand. Patient monitoring, growing category as practices shift from reactive to continuous care models. Purchasing decisions vary by practice type. Larger hospitals prioritize integrated diagnostics and scalable workflow tools. Smaller practices focus on upfront cost and rapid ROI. But across all practice sizes, there's a consistent pattern: tools win when they're simple to deploy, fit existing workflows, and demonstrate clear value, whether through labor savings, better patient care, or new revenue opportunities. Zomedica is positioned precisely where clinics are investing and where pain is highest: diagnostics, therapeutics, and workflow efficiency.
Our product portfolio addresses the categories with the largest addressable markets and the clearest clinical use cases, especially for practices seeking faster clinical decisions, more efficient patient management, and higher acuity care without adding operational complexity. The market is ready, t he profession is ready, and t he economics are clear. Clinics under operational pressure, managing volume with limited staff, and seeking solutions that deliver measurable ROI. That's exactly where we compete.
At Zomedica, our approach to the companion animal market isn't built around a single product. It's built around the patient and the practice. What you're looking at is the Zomedica companion animal ecosystem, a deliberately integrated portfolio designed to serve veterinarians and their patients across two critical pillars: diagnostics and therapeutics. This model matters because it mirrors how companion animal medicine actually works. A veterinarian doesn't just treat, they diagnose first, then treat, then monitor over time, and i n companion animal, that process is often ongoing, not episodic. On the diagnostic side, TRUFORMA is our anchor platform, delivering point-of-care testing using proprietary Bulk Acoustic Wave technology. Complementing it is TRUVIEW, Zomedica's digital microscopy platform that brings cloud connectivity and AI-assisted image analysis into the diagnostic workflow.
Together, these platforms expand the clinic's diagnostic capabilities across both biomarker testing and imaging-based case evaluation, helping veterinarians make faster, more informed clinical decisions while keeping more of the workflow inside the practice. For companion animal practitioners, this means in-clinic testing across key endocrine and biomarker categories, including thyroid, adrenal, pancreatic, and cardiac markers, without the delays of sending samples to an external lab. That speed has real clinical and economic value. When a veterinarian can run tests during the patient visit, they can make immediate decisions, improve client communication, and keep the diagnostic workflow inside the practice. That translates into better compliance, stronger client relationships, and higher per-visit value. On the therapeutic side, PulseVet and Assisi expand Zomedica from diagnosis into treatment. PulseVet brings extracorporeal shockwave therapy into the companion animal setting, a clinically validated, non-invasive modality used to treat musculoskeletal conditions, promote healing, and reduce pain.
Like in equine, it offers a drug-free alternative with strong clinical support and the ability to generate recurring revenue per treatment session. Assisi complements this with targeted pulsed electromagnetic field, tPEMF therapy, delivered through wearable home-use devices. This is particularly important in companion animal care, where compliance and continuity matter. Assisi extends treatment beyond the clinic, allowing pet owners to actively participate in ongoing care. Rounding out the portfolio is VETIGEL, a plant-based hemostatic agent designed for rapid bleeding control. In a small animal setting, this provides an immediate, practical solution for procedures, wound care, and urgent situations, a product with clear utility and broad applicability across everyday veterinary workflows. Together, these products are designed to work in concert. Diagnostics inform treatment decisions, therapeutics improve outcomes, and procedural tools like VETIGEL support clinical execution. That creates multiple revenue touchpoints per patient, per visit, and over the life of the animal.
This is how Zomedica is building a durable companion animal business, not through a single product, but through an integrated ecosystem. TRUFORMA is the cornerstone of Zomedica's companion animal diagnostics platform. Built on Bulk Acoustic Wave technology, it delivers point-of-care results with high analytical performance across assays that are highly relevant to everyday companion animal practice, including thyroid disease, adrenal disorders like Cushing's and Addison's, pancreatitis, and cardiac biomarkers. What makes this compelling is the recurring nature of these conditions. These are not one-time tests; they require ongoing monitoring and repeat diagnostics over time. That creates a strong recurring revenue model. Each instrument placement drives consumable usage directly tied to clinical activity within the practice. There is also a meaningful client experience benefit. Pet owners increasingly expect immediacy.
Being able to diagnose and discuss results within the same visit improves trust, reduces delays, and increases the likelihood of initiating treatment on the spot. TRUVIEW expands Zomedica's diagnostic ecosystem beyond point-of-care biomarker testing and into digital microscopy and imaging workflows. The platform combines high-resolution digital microscopy with cloud connectivity and AI-assisted analysis tools, allowing veterinarians to capture, review, store, and collaborate on diagnostic images more efficiently. In practice, that means clinics can streamline workflows, improve case documentation, and facilitate faster consultation and interpretation across teams and locations. For companion animal medicine, this is particularly valuable because dermatology, cytology, ear infections, parasites, and other microscopy-driven cases are among the most common reasons pets enter the clinic. Equally important is hematology. Blood cell analysis and interpretation drive diagnosis and treatment decisions across anemia, infection, leukemia, and immune-mediated conditions.
Automated slide preparation accelerates sample processing, enabling faster diagnosis and improved consistency on high-volume cytology and hematology cases. These are high-frequency workflows that directly impact daily practice efficiency. TRUVIEW also strengthens the broader recurring revenue model. Beyond hardware placement, digital workflow tools create opportunities for ongoing software utilization, platform engagement, and deeper integration into the clinic's operational infrastructure. Importantly, TRUVIEW complements TRUFORMA within the broader diagnostic ecosystem. TRUFORMA delivers rapid biomarker and endocrine insights, while TRUVIEW enhances visual diagnostic workflows through imaging and AI-assisted interpretation. Together, they expand Zomedica's presence across multiple areas of in-clinic diagnostics rather than relying on a single modality. From a strategic standpoint, this broadens Zomedica's position within veterinary technology and reinforces the company's long-term objective of building an integrated companion animal platform centered around workflow, efficiency, and recurring clinical engagement. PulseVet is the therapeutic cornerstone.
Its extracorporeal shockwave therapy platform is widely used to treat musculoskeletal conditions by stimulating healing, increasing blood flow, and reducing inflammation, all without pharmaceuticals or surgery. In companion animal practice, this opens the door to advanced treatment options that can be delivered in-clinic and billed per session, creating a recurring revenue stream. Assisi extends that therapeutic capability into the home. Its tPEMF technology is designed for ease of use, allowing pet owners to administer ongoing therapy outside the clinic. This supports long-term recovery, improves compliance, and strengthens the veterinarian-client relationship by keeping the practice involved throughout the treatment cycle. Together, PulseVet and Assisi allow Zomedica to participate not just in diagnosis but in the full continuum of care.
The companion animal market is structurally attractive because it is the largest and most consistent segment in veterinary medicine, supported by a broad and fragmented clinic base with recurring demand for diagnostics, chronic condition management, rehabilitation, monitoring, and procedural care. Zomedica's opportunity spans both capital equipment placement and recurring clinical revenue streams across diagnostics and therapeutics. In the United States, the company estimates its capital equipment total addressable market at approximately $1.7 billion, spanning categories including therapeutic devices, rehabilitation and sports medicine technologies, behavioral health solutions, and diagnostic monitoring platforms. More importantly, the U.S. annual recurring revenue opportunity is estimated at approximately $3.3 billion, driven by ongoing utilization across hemostasis products, therapeutic devices, rehabilitation and sports medicine treatments, diagnostic monitoring, imaging workflows, and point-of-care laboratory testing.
Internationally, Zomedica estimates an additional capital equipment opportunity of approximately $1.4 billion, primarily across rehabilitation, sports medicine, and diagnostic monitoring categories, alongside an estimated $3.2 billion international recurring revenue opportunity. That scale matters because companion animal care generates continuous clinical activity across multiple workflows and multiple visits. Diagnostics require repeat testing, therapeutics often involve multiple treatment sessions, and chronic condition management creates long-term engagement between the clinic and the pet owner. The financial logic is straightforward. Each capital placement or installed platform can generate continued revenue through testing, treatment sessions, consumables, monitoring, imaging, and repeat product utilization. As penetration increases, the business benefits from a multi-product ecosystem rather than dependence on a single SKU or a one-time transaction. As more Zomedica products are adopted within a single practice, the model compounds, increasing revenue per account and strengthening integration within the daily clinical workflow.
Critically, Zomedica's advantage is not a single product. It's the breadth of the ecosystem. Few competitors offer a combination of in-clinic diagnostics, in-clinic therapeutics, at-home care solutions, and procedural support within a single portfolio. That creates multiple entry points into the clinic and increases the opportunity for cross-sell over time. From an investor perspective, that translates into a more durable and diversified revenue model. The opportunity in companion animal is large, the demand is recurring, and the portfolio is designed to capture value at multiple points in the clinical workflow. Zomedica is not simply participating in the market. It is building an integrated platform positioned to grow with the evolving standard of care in companion animal medicine. Let's hear from the frontline. Tammy Pierce and Amy Schaeffer share how veterinary technicians drive adoption and shape clinical workflows.
Hey there. My name is Amy Schaeffer. I have been with Zomedica for two years. I am on the Midwest team serving the Boston North area. I was a veterinary technician for 15 years, so these products absolutely excite me. I'm kind of here to encourage you a little bit more with them. I would say that your veterinary technician is your backbone of the hospital. We aren't just here to restrain animals and do blood draws. We are also the communication point between clients as well as veterinarians. We are that middle person. We're also the first ones to implement new products that are coming in. We're the ones that are the driving force on how successful that they are inside a clinic. I think veterinary technicians play a huge role in efficiency.
We want to be early adopters of things that are going to make our workflow better, to make our job more efficient, to get things done faster. It's not so much as just being fast, but making sure it's done right. I think thinking about the technology that's been brought in, it allows us to also do our job better, more confidently, with these products, so I think it's important to have them. When I think about Zomedica's products, I think of TRUFORMA being one of the first ones, and I think about that workflow and efficiency, being able to have same-day results versus thinking about packaging up samples, sending them out, and not getting results anywhere from one to three days, sometimes up to a week, depending on what you're looking for.
As a technician, being able to run a low dose dex test in-house and have those results by the end of the day, huge, certainly when it comes to diagnosing. I also find that working with internal medicine like I have previously, being able to have TSH readily available, treating patients, being able to do an I-131, things like that, having those results same day and being able to monitor is huge. If I were to look at the VETGuardian device, I came from a practice that was high-volume surgery, whether just spays, neuters, dentals, orthopedics. We had a lot of those surgeries. You're turning those tables over quicker. This VETGuardian device would have allowed us to streamline things that much quicker. You're being able to get patients on and off the table and safely recover them.
If you think of AAHA requirements of being able to have to monitor a patient every so often and mark it on your clipboard or your sheet for your patient, this device is automatically doing it for you. I will be very forward and say this will never replace a technician. We are irreplaceable, but t o have that support, that peace of mind, that little bit of technology to help you do your job better is huge, a bsolutely huge.
Veterinary technician a re always the ones that are going to be training the new technicians coming in, training each other, doing things like that. What I will say Zomedica is great about is that we're phenomenal at going in and training people hands-on. It's not just the day that we're delivering the device, it's the continued support thereafter. Being able, for a technician to be able to know that they have that support continually, if anything should come up, be able to reach out to that rep and say, "Hey, I have a question about this," or, "Hey, these are my results," and be able to reach a PSV. These technicians are the ones that are, because they are the early adapters, they're the ones that are looking at this and having to retrain each other once they feel confident in it. As reps, it's our job to make them feel confident in this device to be able to utilize it on a daily basis.
Hello, everybody. I'm Tammy Pierce. I am a licensed vet tech. I graduated from Michigan State University, and I have worked in general practice as well as emergency and critical care. I'm currently an Area Sales Director for the Midwest region of Zomedica. In my experience as a veterinary technician, I was responsible for a lot of the treatments myself, diagnostics, utilizing the equipment, and bringing in new technology. It was important to me to bring in technology that would help us to enhance our patients' care. I'm really excited about the VETGuardian device being a monitor that I didn't have when I was working in practice.
I always was very stressed or worried about the patients and not being able to continually monitor them as they were waking up from surgery, or even in the emergency setting where they were really sick, and I wanted to make sure that I had my eyes on them. This device truly is a differentiator and helps us continue to monitor the patient, which then provides better care. The PulseVet shockwave is truly a game changer in the industry. Being a technician, I love seeing the outcomes that it can provide for our patients but also knowing that it is backed by so much science, studies, and proven data really makes me feel good about offering it to the clients. Definitely, seeing the outcomes that it can provide for our patients is really incredible.
One thing about Zomedica with our support for our practices, we have a whole team. We have professional services veterinarians. We have our account managers. We have the capital equipment specialists, myself as an area sales director, and our full customer support team, happy to help to integrate our products as well as support them in any way that we can.
We shift to global perspective. Paul Tye explores the companion animal market across regions and Zomedica's international expansion opportunities.
Hi, my name's Paul. Paul Tye. I'm part of Zomedica, and I'm responsible for the international business outside of North America. I've been with the organization about three months now, and it's really exciting to share that the international marketplace is a very exciting place for all of us. We're now putting a lot of emphasis and focus on the international market. Whilst we understand that North America in isolation is the biggest market in the world, certainly, when you look at the international market as a whole, this of course is a bigger market, so t he opportunities are significantly huge. You think about all the continents, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Pacific Rim, et cetera, y eah, even the continent of Africa, t here is huge opportunity.
Now, there's a lot of diversity and complexity with these markets, but actually, the experience we have within Zomedica and because of our experience in coming through the market and through the industry, we have the expertise and understanding how to penetrate these markets well. It's exciting times. Of course, we are going to be prioritizing the biggest markets. Now, Europe, of course, is one of the biggest markets in comparable to North America. We have the complexities of culture, we have the complexities of language, we have the complexities of multiple different countries. Europe is not one country. It is actually having to go market by market, country by country, and establishing our presence, w hether that be through distribution and new distribution, but also in some regions, we may find the opportunity to go direct with our sales, leveraging relationships with 3PL.
It's going to be an exciting time as we start to navigate that and then we start to build that organization within Europe. When you think about pet ownership globally compared to North America and some of the more established countries, of course, the pet is still part of the family. That's a dynamic that's shared everywhere across the world. There's obviously different levels of that ratio. We have some extreme pet owners. It's certainly in Asia, places like Singapore and Japan, where now some of the big hospitals and referral hospitals are now adding hotel rooms above the clinics so that the pet owner can actually stay overnight in the hotel whilst their pet is going through a procedure or being monitored and staying overnight in the veterinary hospital.
Kind of extreme behaviors of some of the pet owners, which is fantastic to hear. Also, some of the pet parlors. The marketplace in terms of pet parlors and for toys, clothing for pets is growing significantly in the hundreds of percents because it was quite a small market, now it's becoming huge, particularly in those areas. It means that when you and I would possibly take our pet to the pet parlor to have a shower, et cetera, and be bathed, and we would leave and do other things to go back and pick up our pet once it's all been finished, l ots of places in Asia now have these booths where the pet owner can sit and actually with some food, with a coffee or tea, and actually watch everything going on.
They want to actually witness the whole event and be part of the process. Extreme behaviors, and it's really quite funny and exciting to see this happening. Generally, when you look at Europe and you look at Latin America, I think that there is a common thread that the pet ownership is really a member of the family. The requirements and needs and expectations from the pet parent are becoming higher and greater, which means there is more call for support from the vet, whether it be diagnostics, whether it be routine testing, wellness testing. Again, the market is expanding and growing dramatically everywhere. I think that everything that we offer as a product in our portfolio supports that growth and that need from the pet owner and will lead to some huge growth for us.
Now, let's hear the first quarter financial results from Larry Heaton and Mike Zuehlke.
I'll start with a brief update on the business before turning it over to our Senior Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller, Mike Zuehlke, who will walk through the financials in more detail. Following our prepared remarks, we'll open the line for your questions. On May 6th, we reported our first quarter 2026 results, and I'm pleased with the strong start we've had, once again, delivering consistent and record performance across the business. We generated $8.8 million in revenue, representing 35% growth year-over-year, and marking our 21st consecutive quarter of record revenue growth. Importantly, we surpassed $8 million in first quarter revenue for the first time, a meaningful milestone given that the first quarter has historically, from a seasonal perspective, been our lowest quarterly period for revenue. Growth in the quarter was driven by several key factors.
Strong demand for our PulseVet and Assisi therapeutic device products, ongoing adoption of our diagnostic offerings, particularly our TRUFORMA platform, and continued contribution of our development services segment, which brought in another $2 million in revenue during the first quarter. We're encouraged by the early momentum in development services and believe that this segment will continue to contribute to our objectives of cash flow break even, GAAP profitability, and long-term value creation. From an operational perspective, we continue to execute with discipline. Gross margins remained healthy at 62%. Operating expenses were down $2.7 million or 21%. Adjusted non-GAAP EBITDA loss improved to $2.4 million compared to a loss of $5.7 million in the first quarter of 2025, net of impairment charges, an improvement of 58%. Cash burn improved by $1.1 million, representing a 15% reduction from the first quarter of 2025.
Maintaining discipline around costs and cash management remains a key priority across the company as we move further into 2026. Beyond our financial performance, we also made significant progress in expanding and enhancing our product portfolio. In January, we launched our AI-enabled TRUVIEW digital microscopy and telepathology platform, followed by an agreement with Moichor Inc to distribute the device to their customer base. In February, we announced an agreement with Rahm, Inc to provide OEM manufacturing and support services for its novel devices in the human health market. In March, we announced a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Inc to enhance early detection, treatment, and monitoring of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, or PPID, in horses with our TRUFORMA platform.
Looking ahead, our priorities remain clear: a ccelerate global adoption across our innovative portfolio, expand recurring revenue streams, and continue progressing towards cash flow break even and profitability with a firm goal of achieving both in 2027. With the momentum established in the first quarter, combined with the strength of our balance sheet, we believe we are well-positioned to execute on our growth strategy and scale our innovative product portfolio globally. Now, with that, I'll turn the call over to Mike to walk through the financials in further detail.
Thank you, Larry, and welcome everyone, and thank you for your continued interest in Zomedica. As Larry mentioned in his opening remarks, the first quarter of 2026 was yet another record quarter for Zomedica. While the results show the same historical patterns we've seen from fourth quarter to first quarter, the first quarter of 2026 shows meaningful improvement when compared to previous first quarter results and have set the foundation for what we believe will be a record year for Zomedica. As we continue to progress towards cash flow breakeven and profitability, I want to reiterate that first quarter cash burn was down 15% year-over-year, and our first quarter adjusted non-GAAP EBITDA loss, as presented in the press release on May 6th, was $2.4 million, a 58% improvement from Q1 of 2025. I will now detail the components of our performance, beginning with revenue.
Total revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $8.8 million, a 35% increase compared to prior year and a record for the first quarter of the year. The 35% increase versus prior year was highlighted by the following. Diagnostics segment revenue was up 73% as we've continued to see adoption of our TRUFORMA point-of-care diagnostic platform and utilization of our expanded menu of assays, notably among equine veterinarians. Therapeutic devices segment revenues were roughly flat despite headwinds noted within the industry around capital device demand in the first quarter, which does impact our PulseVet device sales. Consumables revenue within the therapeutic devices segment was up approximately 6% year-on-year. Consumables revenue include the sale of our Assisi products as well as PulseVet trodes.
This is notable because our first quarter of 2025 included consumable revenue that was reflective of pull-ahead activity by some international distribution partners who had uncertainty around the potential impact of tariffs around that time. This pull-ahead activity did not repeat in the first quarter of 2026. When adjusting for this, therapeutic devices consumables grew approximately 10%. The development services segment contributed $2 million in revenue. As we have stated before, we remain committed to the pursuit of strategic opportunities that leverage our existing asset base and scale to drive incremental value for our shareholders within both the human and animal health sectors. Consumables revenue across all segments was up 22%. Again, this was driven by the continued demand for our TRUFORMA products and sustained demand for our PulseVet trodes, which results from both new device installations and reorders associated with existing systems.
We expect consumables growth to further compound as our installed base expands. International revenues were roughly flat year-over-year, despite the first quarter of 2025, including the previously discussed pull-ahead activity resulting from uncertainty around tariffs. When excluding the 2025 activity resulting from tariff uncertainty, international sales were up roughly 10% year-on-year. Moving on to operating expenses. Total operating expenses for the company were $10.4 million in the quarter, a 21% reduction when compared to prior year after excluding the impairment charge taken in the first quarter of 2025. Operating expenses as a percentage of sales improved 84% versus the prior year, which reflects our commitment to disciplined cost management and realization of the scale in which the company has invested. We anticipate continued operating leverage as sales continue to grow across all segments, and this growth is supported by our current cost structure.
Research and development expenses were $1.2 million for the quarter, down 38% from prior year. While we will continue to research and develop next-generation offerings of our innovative products and pursue solutions to unmet or under-met market demands, our R&D spend for the quarter was down largely as a result of the non-recurrence of work that culminated in the launches of our VETGuardian PLUS late in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the TRUVIEW AI early in the first quarter of 2026. Selling and marketing expenses were $3.8 million for the quarter, compared to $5 million last year, a decrease of 24% on revenue growth of 35%. General and administrative expenses for the first quarter were $5.4 million, compared to $6.3 million, a nother 24% decrease. This reflects disciplined cost management and efficiency gains.
Turning to the balance sheet, Zomedica ended the quarter with $47.5 million in cash equivalents and available for sale securities. Cash used during the first quarter was approximately $5.7 million, a 15% reduction when compared to the cash burn of the first quarter of 2025. As previously discussed, we anticipated an increase in the cash burn from the final quarter of last year as we have historically seen less demand from fourth quarter to first quarter, and we incur the cash payment of several expenses accrued throughout the prior year. As always, I would like to remind you, we are essentially debt-free.
While our work is not near done, continued top-line growth at healthy margins and the continued discipline that has resulted in reduced operating expenses will continue to show progress toward our goals of cash flow breakeven and GAAP profitability, as evidenced by both the reduced first quarter cash burn and the 58% reduction in our adjusted non-GAAP EBITDA loss. Our results for the quarter continue to illustrate that your company is in good financial health and making meaningful progress towards cash generation and profitability. We continue to believe that these results are being achieved while remaining well-positioned to fund and support our ambitious growth strategy. I would like to close by again reiterating our gratitude for your continued support of and interest in Zomedica.
It is an exciting time for the company, and each earnings release continues to evidence the company's progress and our commitment to the delivery of shareholder return. With that, I'd like to hand the call back to Larry. Larry?
As you have just heard, we have significant opportunities for growth in the companion animal market and are developing deep relationships with both veterinarians and their staffs to create sustainable growth into the future. While there is certainly still room for improvement in our performance, we are pleased with our first quarter results and look forward to making further progress in reaching cash flow breakeven and GAAP profitability as milestones along our way to building a significant presence in the animal health industry. With that, let's get to your questions.
We'll now move into the live Q&A section. If you have a question, please drop it into the chat box now. We're here to help. If you have questions later, you can contact us with the contact information shown on your screen.
Okay. I just realized that when I recorded that video from the hotel room, had a really different perspective on my face. Interesting. Thank you all for joining. Again, fifth Friday this month because we realized the fourth Friday was the eve of the Memorial Day holiday and given our conversation toward the end of last month's call, realized that would not be good for anyone, so h ere we are today. We'll go back to the fourth Friday. Most of the people were concerned that if we tried to do it on a different day, they wouldn't have the ability to join. We'll leave it there until we get a consensus that says we should do it some other time. Okay. We have a few questions that we can get started with.
The first one, Mr. [Well] says, "Back in February, you indicated the possibility of reaching breakeven by the end of 2026. Is this goal still firm and achievable within your current 2026 outlook?" The short answer is yes. We are in the first quarter. So far in the second quarter, we're meeting our expectations that we have set for ourselves, and it's those expectations that gave me the confidence to indicate that we would achieve a cash flow breakeven by the end of 2026. It's definitely still a goal. Even if we weren't meeting expectation, it would be a goal, and we'd be trying to overachieve in the balance of the year. "Do you do any sales to the many veterinary colleges?" Yeah. There are 58 veterinary schools in the United States.
People often say it's harder to get into vet school than it is to med school, and i t is. That's a big reason for that is that there's just not very many vet schools in the country. There are 58, and w e do business with pretty much all of them. Most of them use the PulseVet. Certainly, if they're teaching equine veterinary medicine, they're absolutely using it, and small animal as well. Some of the other products that we have, like point-of-care labs, well, the universities all generally have their own in-house reference labs. In fact, some of them do quite a business. Texas A&M is a big provider of reference lab services, Cornell, Michigan State. They generally won't necessarily be using our point-of-care devices since they have a lab right down the hall, but w e work with a number of those.
The process that we follow when we develop a TRUFORMA assay is we first do in-house all of the testing and validation that gives us the confidence to say this is ready, but then we always send it out to a university site to do the testing themselves. They could use our point-of-care device and then compare it to their own reference lab and then come back and give us that feedback. They're using the device, yes, but it's because we're asking them to do the validation work. Many times, they'll reach out. They have students or people that are going for advanced degrees that want to do some research and publish, and it's pretty popular for them to take a look at our assay from a research perspective.
University of Georgia, for example, looked at our eACTH assay, and they published on it that it was correlated to the gold standard, and also had the additional benefit of providing a score for what's called CLIP. They presented that from the podium in the academic session at the AAEP. That was a factor in Boehringer Ingelheim saying, "Wow, if we've got major academic centers that are well-respected saying that this assay is just as good as the standard of care, plus it gives additional information, plus you can do it at the point of care." That's one of the contributing reasons why they added us to their collaboration on their idPPID program. "What are my thoughts on how second quarter 2026 is trending?" Yeah. It's trending well. We're pleased with where we sit.
I will say that if you look at the industry, the animal health industry overall in the first quarter, it was a tough quarter for the animal health industry. If you follow some of the other companies, Zoetis, for example, in the U.S., their business was down in small animal. You look at IDEXX, Zoetis was down, and they had a price increase. IDEXX was up 11% overall. I think they were up less than around 8% or so in the U.S. 4% of that or half of their growth was through price increases. Interestingly, IDEXX, they don't sell the capital equipment. They provide it at no charge. It's sort of the industry standard. It's why we do the same thing. But when you look at their inVue device, they had anticipated that they would do about 5,500 units this year.
They only did around 1,100 in the first quarter, which was below what the analysts thought they would do. It was just a tough quarter. We heard from a private company that sells primarily ultrasound devices, they were down like 50% year-over-year in terms of sales. It was a tough quarter for capital in the first quarter. Whether it was the weather or the war or what have you, it's just pretty simple for a veterinarian to say, "You know what? Let me just wait a little bit on pulling the trigger on that $30,000 piece of equipment," or what have you. We clearly weren't pleased with our capital sales, but it was a matter of them not closing yet as opposed to deciding, "No, I don't want it. There's something wrong with it," or, "I don't like it," or what have you.
We see some of that, and I just was at a conference and heard other companies talk about how there's been a significant uptick in the last two months. We're pleased, as I said, with second quarter expectations, and our second-quarter expectations are always higher than our first-quarter expectations. Kind of a long-winded answer on that. We're feeling pretty good about it. "Is there any immediate plan to reduce the number of shares outstanding? If there is not, is there a long-term plan?" There's certainly a long-term plan.
I think we've mentioned many times that the way that our shareholders would prefer to see these number of shares outstanding reduced is through a stock buyback, and we've also been very upfront with the fact that we always have one eye on our finances, on our capital, and we would not be engaging in the stock buyback until we are cash flow positive. In the short term, we're not cash flow positive right now. However, we plan to be in the relatively midterm. Of course, there are other ways to address the capital structure that could accomplish that result, but that would require the support of shareholders, and I think that's a longer-term and maybe much longer- term concept for that to be embraced if it ever is. I think that answers your question.
"I've been closely tracking the adoption of our products and have noticed an active presence of PulseVet in markets like Brazil." Yep. "Given the massive potential of the veterinary market in Latin America and Europe, what is the strategic weight of international sales for Zomedica in 2026, and what key catalysts are you expecting outside the U.S. to solidify growth in the coming years?" It's a good question. International growth has been very strong. I think you heard from Mike that while we were relatively flat, we had at least one distributor in the international market pull $300,000 in sales into the first quarter of last year because they were concerned that tariffs were going to blow them up, then t hey stopped doing that.
It was good for the first quarter of last year, and this year, we were sort of flat, so that's a $300,000 increase that didn't show up, which is fine because it's going to show up in the rest of the year. Our international sales are growing. We do have an active presence in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil, also Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico. There are huge population markets in South America f or products like PulseVet, which is used for equine, these are mostly owned horses down there, relatively affluent members of the population. Then there are other countries that don't have the affluence, and so it's kind of a mixed bag in terms of which markets are appropriate markets for some of the higher- dollar ticket items. We're in about 60 countries with PulseVet around the world. Most of those, almost all of those were direct.
Over the last couple of years, as you've seen, we've had a major focus on international. We have a master distributor for equine in Europe. Well, I won't go in on all the distributors that we've signed up, but I will say this, very few distributors around the world have all of our products. Managing the distributors, working with the distributors to say, "Hey, you've been successful with this product or that product. Let's get all of our products in here," that is something that we were resource-constrained with until recently when we hired Paul Tye. That's a big reason why we hired Paul Tye, and that's a major catalyst because he's charged with going to each of our distributors, introducing, making sure that they have all of the products.
If they're not set up to have all of our products, maybe they only cover a certain segment of the market, then we can look for alternatives, either to have multiple distributors in a market or a new distributor in a market. We expect that to grow. We've been growing nicely as a company worldwide. The percentage of international sales have been right around 20%, maybe sometimes up to around 23% on a quarterly basis over the last several years, which basically means that the international growth has kept pace with the domestic growth. Frankly, I know that international sales are growing in real dollar terms, and I hope that it actually reduces in terms of percentage of our overall revenue because that would mean the much larger U.S. market is growing even faster than that percentage. Bottom line, we expect growth from both markets.
The catalysts are to leverage our existing distribution arrangements to bring new products in, and in cases where that's not appropriate, then to bring new distributors on board. All right. "Without disclosing confidential customers or biomarkers, what milestones should investors watch over the next 6- 12 months to judge whether Zomedica's human health development services can become a meaningful revenue driver and support the path to breakeven by year-end 2026?" I think you pretty much take a look at the revenue that we report. The revenue that we generate comes from a combination. We break this out in the Q. It comes from a combination of development engineering services, as well as manufacturing of things like prototypes, pilot builds, and in other cases, finished goods for the marketplace. All that's reflected in revenue. I think that's really the answer. Just continue to watch the revenue.
As you've seen, it's been right around a couple million dollars for the last couple of quarters. We expect that this is going to continue to contribute towards our path of profitability, and certainly to cash flow breakeven. Just leave it at that because I can't disclose the confidential customers, t hey're still a little shy. "With veterinary capital equipment demand soft across the industry, what are the strongest growth drivers for Zomedica in 2026? Consumables, installed base, new assays, TRUVIEW, VETGuardian PLUS, development services, which of these could help most towards breakeven?" They're all contributing. I would just say that I don't think that capital equipment demand is going to stay soft. I think we saw sort of a transient thing in the first quarter, at least from our perspective, that's what I think we saw, because we see what we're doing in the second quarter.
As far as the rest of the industry concerned, that's kind of on them to sort it out. We don't measure our performance against theirs. It's just interesting context I thought you might appreciate. For us, as you know, we are a consumable-oriented company, and when you see our consumables go up, that means that they're utilizing our products, they're happy with them, and the more people that are happy with them and utilizing them more and more, then the more support we have for introducing it to new customers. Capital sales are a leading indicator of growth in consumables, so I'd look at that. We do intend to launch a couple of new assays in the third quarter and a couple more in the fourth quarter for TRUFORMA.
TRUVIEW AI is really performing well in the marketplace, and so, w e expect that to be a significant contributor in the months and years to come. That looks more like a consumable. We don't sell the capital upfront. VETGuardian PLUS, we're working through. In the first quarter, we were very focused on upgrading the customers that we had sold a VETGuardian to in recent months. It's not cool to sell your customer at Thanksgiving a VETGuardian and then turn around and at Christmas launch a VETGuardian PLUS without giving the opportunity to upgrade them. In the case of recent purchases within the last two quarters of last year, we did that at no charge.
The reason we could do that is that we can bring that previous VETGuardian device in very short order, just a couple of changes in parts that don't cost that much, we're able to upgrade that to a VETGuardian PLUS device. That gives us a VETGuardian PLUS device to go out and upgrade another customer. That was a pretty significant focus in the first quarter. Probably cut into some of our de novo sales, frankly, but as we move through that process, we're just seeing kind of a lot of traction around that product. Development services, they're certainly agnostic as to whether our vet business is doing well or how well it's doing. It's really focused on the kinds of things that these collaborative partners are interested in developing. Which of these can help most towards breakeven?
I think to the extent that breakeven really is a matter of cash flow, and cash is fungible, doesn't matter where it came from. I think they all sort of help equally. Of course, PulseVet at $32,000 for a system is going to help more than VETGuardian at $4,950 or $5,000 per system, and it's going to help more than an initial order of equine assays for TRUFORMA at $1,000. You take it in the aggregate, they all contribute. "PIMS update. It may make sense to explain to others on this call how this can open up the market for vets to buy the product a lot easier. In history, I believe it takes away a big impediment." Yeah. PIMS is practice information management systems in the veterinary world. In the human world, they would call this EMR, an electronic medical record.
The PIM system really is two things. It's a database that a customer, t hey acquire a PIM system. They get one from IDEXX or Covetrus or maybe there's 16, 17 other independent ones, and it provides them a database. It's everything from scheduling to their customers and who owns them and so on and so forth. A database. But it's also a communication tool. It communicates from the PIMS. You go into the PIM system, and y ou say, "I have a patient, Fluffy, coming in today, and I'm going to want to run this panel of tests. I'm going to want to run some slides. I'm going to do a monitoring session. I'm going to do a PulseVet there." When you go into the PIM system, you select that dog or cat, and then you click off the things that you want to do that day.
That PIM system then sends to the devices all of the information that the device needs to be able to perform that test or that assay or that treatment. Then, when the treatment or the test is done, that device communicates back to the PIM system. In one place, they have everything that they need. It's a good thing for the veterinarian to be able to review all of the data. It's a good thing for the accounting system because it's going to capture everything to be billed. There's not any manual writing stuff down and missing things to charge for and so on and so forth. There's plenty of practices out there that don't have a PIM system. I don't know how many, probably not that many, but most practices do have a PIM system.
When you're using it, you get used to it. If you have to step up to a TRUFORMA and enter patient information, what are you working with, a dog or a cat? How much does it weigh? What's the species? What type is it? Who's the pet parent? You certainly are willing to do it if that's the only way you're going to get your point- of- care test done. If you have another way to get that test done and it's integrated already with the PIM system, then you're going to look at that and lean in that direction if you can. From the jump, we've known that we wanted to integrate our products into the PIM systems, but we also wanted to wait till we got to a critical mass because it's not free, right?
We pay what they call the PIMS integrators, PIMS providers, they're proprietary, so they charge on a per clinic or per month or per test basis. What we've developed is the ability through our myZomedica portal, which is kind of like a PIMS all by itself, right? All of our devices connect to the cloud-based myZomedica portal, and then any customer that has the access rights can open that up from any browser, whether they're at home or in the office or whatever. They can look at their VETGuardian monitoring session or see the results for every time the TRUFORMA has run a test for that patient or what have you. Instead of integrating each of our devices to the PIMS, we integrate all of our devices to the myZomedica portal, and then the myZomedica portal will communicate with the PIM system.
We're already into testing, what they call end-to-end testing. Yes, the PIMS was able to send to our device. The device was able to receive the instruction to do the test. Test is done, and it was able to send everything back to the PIM system. The problem is there's not just one PIM system. Probably two of them have about 70% of the market, and then there's about 16, 17 like that split the remaining 30%. We're in the process of getting those done. We've successfully completed the testing on at least one. I haven't heard in the last week or so, I was traveling, so maybe more than one at this point. But we had indicated that by June, we would have that done for TRUFORMA, and then we have a bunch of other products to put through that as well.
We still think June through probably September to get all the products that we have connected there, and it will make it much more convenient for our practices. Let's see. "Which international markets are closest to meaningful acceleration, and which product line, PulseVet, TRUFORMA, or development services, has the strongest non-U.S. growth potential over the next 12- 24 months?" Canada and the U.K., where we recently put new distribution partners in place, are showing very substantial growth. Turkey, interestingly enough, showing tremendous growth, in particular with TRUFORMA. They've strengthened their Wi-Fi system, internet system in Turkey, and so, we think they're going to be back to really driving a bunch of VETGuardian sales there as well. I think South America, the Brazil area, it's actually serviced out of a distributor in Paraguay.
Brazil, that's sort of southern South America, Australia, where we have distributors in place already that we expect to add our additional products to. Canada, TRUFORMA. In terms of product lines, PulseVet, really it's driving it into the small animal market through our existing distribution centers or getting new ones. That's going to have the biggest revenue impact because of just the cost of the systems at $32,000. Development services, it's not really something that we would look at as international versus the U.S. We would certainly help an international company for sure, but we wouldn't necessarily differentiate that, well, because this company's based here, it's international. I don't know. I would defer to Mike on how we actually account for it because there's a certain way to do it. Yeah, the largest market, Europe.
Frankly, we see interest from countries all around the world whenever we launch a new product. They really like the VETGuardian. I see these leads, and I wonder how they even hear about it. They really are liking the TRUVIEW, the idea of that. Maybe we'll, on a subsequent call, break down by geographic market. Generally, what we look at is EU, and then you group the Middle East and North Africa together, and then you've got Asia-Pacific, and then you've got South and Latin America. Maybe we'll break those out if you have an interest in that. "Thank you for taking the questions. Since our transition to the OTC market, we have seen some institutional outflows due to fund mandates. Could management provide an update on your ongoing engagement with institutional investors?
Are you still maintaining active dialogues or meetings with them, and what is their general sentiment regarding Zomedica's current operational progress?" Yeah, we saw significant outflows. All of the index funds bailed as just the morning that we opened on the OTC. Frankly, I'm responsive to institutional investors that contact us, but I spent time, I think as some or many of you know, I was quite active in working with institutional investors for a period of time, and it was very low drag, very easy to get them interested in the company. They love, well, t hey were interested in what we're doing. They expressed an interest in getting involved. This is when we were traded on the New York Exchange. They all had the same sort of requirements. Number one, we want to make direct investments in the company.
We don't want to try and go into the open market and buy $10 million worth of stock. Two, we would only do this if you're planning on doing a reverse split and have some confidence in getting that done. Once we got delisted by the New York American Exchange , it became OTC. That second requirement became even more important to institutional investors, and so, a s we look to get to cash flow positive, while it doesn't take much money to go and travel to New York or San Francisco or Miami to attend these conferences, it's not a huge investment. Every little bit is going to count towards getting us to cash flow positive. In addition, investor relations entities, I know some of you maybe were contacted by some of them as we were looking to address the capital structure a couple of years ago.
It's not a huge amount of money, but it's also not insignificant. We let our investor relations director go, and we also terminated our agreements. We said we suspended them, but we could always bring them back if we wanted, but we are no longer employing investor relations entities. We still get inbound interest. We take those calls, but we're upfront with them about the fact that it's not likely that we're going to be able to address the cap structure anytime soon. The ones that are in contact with us aren't the same ones. Initially, it were some of the big-name funds that just saw, "Hey, here's a way to get into animal health. It's a great market for this company," and so on and so forth.
Now, it becomes more of the ones that want to do some financial engineering, and those would be less of a benefit, so. T heir general sentiment is we have too many shares outstanding. The stock price needs to be priced higher so that it can exceed the limits and thresholds for many of the funds, and they would want to make a direct investment into the company. "You mentioned that capital sales are a leading indicator for consumables, that new TRUFORMA assays are planned for Q3 and Q4, and the TRUVIEW may behave more like a recurring consumable-style revenue model rather than a traditional upfront capital sale.
Can you explain which upcoming products or install-based drivers you believe can contribute the most to recurring revenue growth over the next 6- 12 months, and how meaningful that could be for reach of cash flow breakeven by year-end?" I think the questions sort of suggest the answer, right? TRUFORMA assays, I mean, you see the growth in consumables. You see the growth in consumables within the diagnostic market. That's TRUFORMA. That's really growing super-fast and super well. TRUVIEW is just getting out there. We're seeing that revenue on a monthly basis. You'll see that increase. VETGuardian's not really recurring revenue. It is, but it's nominal. It's about $600 a year for those service fees and whatnot. For those of you old enough to remember the Lay's potato chip commercials, can't just eat one.
Our recurring revenue for that is to sell a second and a third, and there's installations that have quite a few more than that. VETIGEL is recurring. It's not very expensive. It's about $80 a tube. It recurs, but it's not a huge money that's going to take a while for it to be really substantial revenue on a recurring basis. Assisi is a lot of that, almost all that, maybe not all of it, but a lot of that is recurring revenue because the loop runs out after 150 treatments. All of this is factored into our expectations on a quarterly basis, and as I indicated earlier, we met those expectations that we had for ourselves in the first quarter and are expecting to happen as well in the second quarter. "How is Q2 revenue shaping up?" Nicely. Will we get over a certain amount?
We're not providing that guidance. "When will the website go live?" We're making continuous improvements in the website. I think you could see that we've added the new page on development services. It's not going to give you any information we haven't shared here. We have a new, the TRUVIEW AI website's been overhauled, so it's not going to be our existing website goes away and a new one pops up, but you'll see continuous improvement and enhancements to the website by product. "Will you talk more about the data you collect on TRUVIEW, VETGuardian? I believe you have an automated way to collect data on PulseVet as well, too. Perhaps, can any of these data flows be monetized as a product in the future? Or alternatively, which data are you or your most customers excited about?" Yeah, that's a really good point.
All of the data that we collect, whether it's TRUFORMA, the TRUVIEW images, the annotations, the VETGuardian tracings, the PulseVet, the PulseVet trode usage, and so on, all of that, well, maybe not that last thing, but all the others is potentially valuable to companies that want to take a look at that data. Once we get the PIMS connectivity done, then we'll take a look at that database overall and, potentially we'll be able to monetize that. "Any new assays?" Yeah, we have a couple we're going to launch in the third quarter and a couple more we're going to launch in the fourth quarter. "Any new developments on the human health side?" Not that I could disclose at this point. "Once PIMS is in place, do you expect to materially improve close rates for TRUFORMA, VETGuardian PLUS, and TRUVIEW AI?
Should investors view PIMS connectivity as a key step towards scaling installed base usage and recurring revenue?" We definitely, I think we'll see better rates for closure on the TRUFORMA product because that's been a little bit of a barrier. VETGuardian PLUS, they're going to really enjoy the fact that it's PIMS- connected, but that device, they want it. If it means they have to punch in the name of the pet, they're going to do that. TRUVIEW AI, it's important for them as well. That should have a positive impact on that. "Are we still on schedule for break even at the end of 2026 or better?" The schedule is in 2027, right? Let me just repeat that. That's what we said from the jump.
However, we've also given pretty clear indication, and I said it earlier today, is that we expect to actually get to cash flow breakeven by the end of the year. "Any new studies coming out for PulseVet, and are you doing anything different to get it into the companion animal market?" There's generally always some studies going on. Oh, yeah. There are two things that recently have been going on. The asthma clinical registry for PulseVet for horses, for equine, is ongoing, and same thing with hoof depth. Those are sole depth. Those are new indications for equine. In terms of the companion animal market, there was another study that came out of, I think, Germany not too long ago.
It's so well-established in the vet community at this point that we don't see a need, other than a new indication, to invest in any clinical research. We were asked the other day to do some clinical research to basically rehash things that have already been well-established. We're not going to make those investments right now. In terms of doing anything different, we're continuing to work towards a tipping point. If you look at TRUFORMA in the equine market, tipping point. We're getting requests every week and sometimes every day from equine vets that say, "Hey, I want this." It's not in reaction to somebody going out and knocking on the door saying they've read about it, they've heard about it. Tipping point. We're not at the tipping point with PulseVet and companion animal, but we're moving down the road towards it.
Once they realize that it's a new revenue stream, it provides them with a high margin. Most of all, the dog limps into the treatment room and walks out. Once they see that, they're sold. We don't have vets that buy PulseVet machines and let them sit in the corner gathering dust. They use them, they see that it works. Most importantly, the pet parents see that they work, and n ow, everybody's happy. If you're a veterinarian, one of the things that you like to do least is to tell a pet parent that they need to spend X amount of dollars for pretty much anything, whether it's a lab result. We all know this.
We go to the vet, they say, "Hey, your lab work's going to be so many hundreds of dollars," and you're like, "Whoa." It's not something we ever experience when we go to the doctor ourselves because insurance is covering it. We don't ever see that the lab work is thousands of dollars because by the time it gets through the insurance, we're paying a very small piece of that. For animal health, it's a cash business. For those of us that have pets and don't want to get hit with big bills, insurance is the way to go, pet insurance. Put that aside, vets don't like that, right? They're nervous about it. They didn't sign up to be salespeople. They want to take care of animals.
The best thing we can do for the vet is to put them in a situation where the pet parent sees results right then and there, because then they're sold, and then the vet can be confident in saying, "No, you need this treatment. Your dog should get this treatment, this $300 treatment, and one more of these two weeks from now." $600 on your part. You're going to be able to get them off that drug that you're paying more for on an annual basis. If it's a cat, not only do you have to pay for the drug, but you got to try and stick that pill down their throat every day, which is why you got scratches all over yourself, and that cat loves you. You're going to be able to avoid surgery.
Once they know and see that it works and that the pet parent is going to see that it works, then they're not anywhere nearly hesitant to ask them to invest in that treatment. "Do we do business in Lebanon?" Many people in Beirut have dogs. I'm sure that they do. The key thing in terms of the country, on a country-by-country basis is what's the percentage of the dogs or cats that are what we call medicalized, right? In the U.S., about 75% of dogs are termed medicalized. That is, when they're puppies, when they're small dogs, when they're older dogs, they're going to go to the vet. It's about 50s, it's a lesser percentage for cats, I want to say around the high 50% range, and that's a very good business for us. In England, in Germany, in France, dogs, cats, medicalized. Japan, medicalized cats, dogs.
I don't know in Lebanon what the percentage of medicalized dogs are. It's a question, I'll take it down and I'll ask in the future if we have a PulseVet in Lebanon or not. If we don't, frankly, not looking to go to that part of the world just now. Not looking to send people into the Middle East right now to try and establish new distribution, I hope, and frankly, pray like the rest of the world probably is that there'll come a time pretty soon when we don't have to worry about that. Yeah, if there's a market, we'll be there. Incidentally, if you know someone in Lebanon and they could use some of our technology or a vet or whatever, we can always ship from the United States. We can ship direct over there. "Do we know topic for next month's call yet?"
We do, and I don't know what it is, so I'll have to get back to you. We'll put a press release out in the near term to do that. "You should do more to get the four by four, fourth Friday, four videos out to more investors now that you have all that data. It's easy to leverage all the videos as a tool and package to potential investors. They're extremely informative, and some new investors might not know they exist. It'd be great if you could put your YouTube video links right on your own website." Emma and Rich, I know that you're listening to this call. Can you please do that? I think we actually talked about that, but let's go ahead and do that. We now have a nice base.
If you look, one of the things that we have done is we've tried to go back into the website and label them with exactly what they're covering and so on and so forth. That's a good suggestion, and we'll get that done. "Thank you for clarifying that institutions see the share count, price level, and direct investment structure as key issues, and that management is focused first on reaching cash flow positive. For shareholders, what is the realistic sequence of milestones before Zomedica revisits capital structure or uplisting, cash flow breakeven, GAAP profitability, stronger share price, higher market cap, or directed institutional investment? In other words, is the plan to first prove the business financially?" In a word, yes, right? Just yes, and that's what we're doing. "If cash flow neutral for next year, why not use 25% of the cash to do a Dutch tender offer?
This might be the best investment if things are truly moving forward, would still leave you with $30 million, especially if insiders are buying and believe this is really undervalued." I think there's a lot of insiders, right? My camera just zoomed in for some reason. We're insiders, but I regard everyone on this call that owns shares in Zomedica as insiders, too. You own stock. The fact is, though, is that with almost a billion shares out there, there's only so much that we, as insiders, can do. Some insiders, you've got bills to pay, tuitions coming due, parents need support. All sorts of reasons why people might need to sell. You see what happens.
I think you've seen when our stock goes up a bit, you could see there's a few days, or three or four days, or a couple of weeks where you see steady increase in the volume. That's generally when I look at that, I think, okay, someone is taking a position in the company, and they're doing it in the open market. Once that is done, then it's relied on all of us. As insiders, we can't purchase during closed windows. Frankly, with some of the things that we're preparing to do for the new year, I'll tell you right now, I'm not going to be in a position more than likely to purchase shares. Financially, I would be able to, but not going to be able to from a insider trading regulation policy. Just giving you that heads-up now.
No, I'm not going to tell you why. I can't, but there'll come a time. We're not going to deploy the capital that the company has to buy back shares, whether it's a Dutch tender, which is just a fancy way of saying auctioning off how you sell the shares, but it's still a buyback. We're not going to do that until we're cash flow positive. Even then, we'll need to take a really hard look at what kind of a safety reserve. Well, let me just leave it at that. Once we're profitable, once we're GAAP profitable, then we'll explore all the options. One of those options that we understand people are interested in is a share buyback.
There's even potentially some combination of taking an investment from somebody that wants to take a significant position and then turn around and using that capital to buy back shares. I'll defer to Mike and our corporate counsel as to how, I'll say kosher that is, how appropriate that is, but we'll look at all the different offers. We're just not in a position. Frankly, $20 million right now, first of all, as you've seen the market move, it's not going to buy that many shares back anywhere close to what would have a meaningful impact.
It's going to have to be a long-term strategy that says, "Okay, we're going to take X percentage of our profits each year, and we're going to invest in this, in buying stock back, and so on and so forth." Not do something that's going to lend itself to letting day traders or market people that like to play the market a certain kind of way take advantage of it, because it would be for the benefit of our long-term shareholders. "Do you still have confidence you and the team can organically grow company enough to address share price without financial engineering? Good acquisitions seem to have made under your leadership. Thank you." You're welcome. Yes, we have confidence that we can grow the company revenue, profitability, and so on, and eventually address the share price. First quarter results, our revenue was up 35%.
Our cash flow was down 20-some%. Cash burn was down some 20%. Over last year, consumable revenue was up way high. We announced a partnership with a well-known company in veterinary medicine, Boehringer Ingelheim, to kind of validate ourselves, and the share price didn't really move. In terms of, we can do all those things, and whether the share price moves is another subject. Let me just leave it at that. "On PulseVet companion animal adoption, what measurable signs should investors watch to know the product is approaching a tipping point? Number of small animal placements, utilization, repeat treatments, revenue per clinic or distributor demand?" All of those things are things that we watch. We watch those monthly, quarterly. We watch those very significantly. We don't disclose, though, that level of detail. What shareholders can look at is capital revenue and consumable revenue.
You're going to see those continue to go up, I believe. "Regarding proposal three on executive compensation, aligning executive pay with long-term performance, shareholder value is vital. As we navigate 2026 on the OTC market, what specific operational metrics or commercial milestones is the Comp Committee prioritizing to ensure management incentives are strictly tied to expanding our market footprint and recovering market value?" Recovering market value. We're pretty much about the same value as we were about before the delisting. I don't think they're worried so much about recovering market value as creating market value, expanding our market footprint. I will tell you that the Comp Committee is very focused on getting to cash flow breakeven and profitability. I think all of those things are important.
I don't take issue with the way the question is phrased, but really, the primary thing, in some cases the only thing, that they're concerned with is cash flow breakeven and profitability. "Given institutions can't buy here, if retail keeps selling of the stock down to $0.05, for example, would you consider using debt to buy back stock? If you use $15 million in debt but have $30 million in cash, your balance sheet is still incredibly strong. " Yeah, I agree with that. Once we're cash flow positive, then that kind of thing comes into play. I don't think any of our current shareholders would be happy to hear that we went out and took on debt to buy back shares when we're not yet cash flow positive. Once we get to that point, then all bets are off. Well, let me tell you like that.
That's a phrase. I don't even know what that means. Once we get to that point, then we're going to consider that as an option. All right. Let's take, whoa, look at the time. We'll take one last one. It just came in at 5:27 P.M., so after that, no more. "You mentioned you personally may not be able to purchase shares due to insider trading policy, but you cannot say why without discussing anything confidential. Should investors understand that Zomedica may be entering a period with important upcoming milestones or announcements, such as PIMS integration, new assays, development services updates, or other material events?" Yes, that's what that means. It means that there are things that as we move forward, it will become more probable than not that certain material things that are known to me and not known to shareholders would be likely to occur.
That's the way that you evaluate stuff like that is, we can all have plans for, by golly, in X number of years, we're going to be $100 million. We're going to be trading on such and such an exchange. I can have all these great ideas. We can have all these great plans and visions to do them. We can't say right now it's more probable, more likely than not, that that's actually going to materialize in the timeframe we just indicated. That doesn't count.
If we have things that we know that we're approaching, we have things that we know that we're working on, and as we gain more confidence in our ability to actually accomplish certain things, then once they become more likely than not, and they're material, that's the other thing, it has to be material to the company, then that would preclude me anyway, and others that are privy to certain future accomplishments or future milestones that would lock us out. Damn, if it went to $0.05, I don't know. I'd probably announce everything just so I could buy more shares. I don't know. Leave it at that. All right. Someone snuck one more in here. Let me just see. It's more of the same, so I'm not going to read any more. It's really well past time. I appreciate your attendance on these calls.
I appreciate your support of Zomedica. Happy to talk directly. Not going to tell you anything that's not been shared publicly but would certainly be happy to hear from shareholders as we move forward. As you might notice, we added a little bit of questionnaire on the registration form just to help us get to know you better and to know if you have specific questions or instances. I don't know if we put your email address on there, but if we did, then we'll respond to you directly on some of those. Leave it at that. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Friday afternoon, evening, and happy belated Memorial Day. Take care.