Belapectin, a galactoarabino-rhamnogalacturonan polysaccharide polymer with low micromolar binding affinity to both Gal-3 and Gal-140 did not meet its primary and secondary endpoints in a phase 2b study in patients with NASH, cirrhosis, and portal hypertension, and was repurposed in a subgroup of patients for the prevention of esophageal varices in NASH cirrhosis41 (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04365868). This evidence concerns the gene LGALS3 and esophageal varices.