Patent ID: 7993855

Claim:
A method of lowering the rate of a reaction in an assay for the detection and/or measurement of an analyte in a sample, comprising: (a) providing a reaction mixture comprising at least two components selected from the group consisting of (i) a fluorescent conjugate of the analyte; (ii) a component capable of specifically binding to the analyte and its fluorescent conjugate; and (iii) a sample, which comprises or is suspected to comprise the analyte; (b) providing the component not selected in step (a): (c) allowing the selected components in the reaction mixture to interact; (d) adding non-physiological amounts of at least one additive to the reaction mixture or the component of step (b) or both; (e) combining the reaction mixture and the step (b) component; and (f) monitoring for the rate of change of the concentration of a complex formed due to the combination of the components in step (a) and (b) to determine the concentration of the analyte in the sample.