History of Centaur Animal Health

Since it was founded in 1986, Centaur Animal Health’s business focus has been concentrated in adaptations of proven new technology — with special emphasis in biotechnology — converting successes from the human healthcare market to address similar problems in the animal health markets.

Centaur’s first products of prominence were concentrated in the equine market, and focused on diagnostic technologies that were representative of ‘breakthrough innovations’. One such product is the Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) diagnostic that was adapted from the human AIDS test and for which a patent was granted to Centaur in 1995.

Centaur, Inc. (Centaur) and United Agriculture and Veterinary Products, Inc. (Unavet) were two separate Kansas City based animal health businesses that have been operational since the mid 1980’s. Both companies had been engaged in sales activity in separate but complementary segments of the animal health market. The merging of the two existing companies in 2001 provided efficiencies and growth opportunities that would not have been available to either company individually.

While Centaur sells most of its products through distributors of national prominence, Centaur also maintains the right to sell its products direct, (as is required by the USDA on the EIA tests), should an interested laboratory or veterinarian not wish to deal with one of the select pharmaceutical distributors. Centaur’s ‘direct customer base’ currently numbers approximately 1000 accounts, with Centaur currently stocking, shipping and billing its EIA tests to many of the 450 USDA approved laboratories.

Today Centaur Animal Health is focused on developing innovative diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals that address significant therapeutic needs for companion and production animals. Centaur licenses patent-protected technologies acquired from animal health or human pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Contract manufacturing is available at our FDA, DEA certified plant.