Patent ID: 7579162

Claim:
A method for the qualitative and semi-quantitative detection of a ligand in a sample medium comprising dissolving first and second lyophilized reaction media in the sample medium, i) the first lyophilized reaction medium comprising an inactivated apoenzyme, a monoclonal antibody, a cofactor for a chromogenic compound, and at least one neutralising compound and ii) the second lyophilized reaction medium comprising a second enzyme, a coupled chromogenic compound, and a conjugate formed by covalently bonding a prosthetic group to a ligand, wherein one or both of the first and second lyophilized reaction media further comprises a substrate, wherein the conjugate independently binds (a) the monoclonal antibody in a specific and competitive maimer and (b) the inactivated apoenzyme, via the prosthetic group, thereby activating the apoenzyme, and wherein a color reaction is obtained by catalysis of at least one substrate by the activated apoenzyme, to give at least one reagent activating the second enzyme, and the activated second enzyme degrades the chromogenic compound proportional to the quantity of reagent formed and, indirectly, proportional to the quantity of the ligand present in the sample medium, incubating the sample medium in order to carry out an immunoenzymatic method, and observing the resulting coloration.