diff --git a/etc/run_blastx.sanger b/etc/run_blastx.sanger
index d6c79cff0e5f78b30eb8e3b239d8e13f2b347ed8..f2637bc3a2cebf79b380dbc95eb2376db9bce526 100755
--- a/etc/run_blastx.sanger
+++ b/etc/run_blastx.sanger
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ run_one_prog () {
 
 
     # Artemis can read compressed files
-    while [ ! -f $OUTPUT_FILE ]; do sleep 2; done
+    count=0; while  (test ! -f $OUTPUT_FILE)  && (test $count -lt 1000) ; do sleep 2; count+=1; done
 
     gzip -9 $OUTPUT_FILE
     zip -j ${DIRNAME}blastx.zip ${OUTPUT_FILE}.gz