GI Dynamics (ASX:GID) has a new global commercial head in Mark Twyman, who was appointed this week alongside Robert Solomon, who will be VP of finance.

Twyman will oversee international expansion of sales and marketing efforts for the Lexington, Mass.-based obesity and Type II diabetes treatment company’s flagship EndoBarrier device.

He has more than two decades’ experience in commercializing health care products, most recently as senior VP and general manager at Genzyme Biosurgery, according to a press release. Much of Twyman’s tenure in health care was spent at Merck, where he spanned a number of sales, marketing and operations roles over a period of 18 years.

"GI Dynamics is at the forefront of a major change that is occurring in diabetes care and weight management, and I am delighted to be leading the commercialization of the EndoBarrier, an innovative therapy for treating Type II diabetes and obesity," Twyman said in prepared remarks. "The treatment of these diseases represents two of the largest health care markets in the world."

Read MassDevice’s Q&A with GI Dynamics CEO Stu Randle from earlier this month.

The EndoBarrier is a plastic sleeve inserted endoscopically into the small intestine, where it slows the uptake of nutrients from food to induce weight loss and help control the symptoms of diabetes.

It’s been approved for 12 months of treatment in the European Union and is also on the market in Chile, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company has also received an investigational device exemption approval to commence a pilot trial of the EndoBarrier in the U.S.

GI Dynamics also announced that Solomon will take over accounting and financial reporting activities to support the requirements of commercialization. He also comes from the health arena with recent roles at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and Targanta Therapeutics.