Billionaire Ronald Perelman has bought another 50,000 shares this week of High Point, North Carolina-based VTV Therapeutics Inc., according to a filing Wednesday from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Inc. purchased 50,000 shares of the drug company on Tuesday at an average price of $4.03 per share.

The stock was purchased at prices ranging from $3.94 to $4.19, according to the filing.

MacAndrews & Forbes now owns 2.6 million Class A shares worth more than $14.8 million of the company, which is developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

The company’s shares were trading Thursday at 4.75, up 1.73, or 43 percent, in midday trading.

Earlier this week, the company announced a deal with a Chinese company to license and develop one of its drugs in that country. The deal provided VTV Therapeutics with an upfront payment of $8 million and the potential for an additional $75 million in payments.

MacAndrews & Forbes’s investments include AM General, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., Harland Clarke, Merisant, Revlon Inc., Scantron, Scientific Games Corp., SIGA Technologies, Inc., and Valassis.

According to the company’s proxy statement, 23.1 million shares of its Class B common stock is also held by MacAndrews & Forbes, and 655,721 shares of its Class B stock is held by Perelman.

VTV also completed enrollment of Part B of its Phase 3 study of its Alzheimer’s drug, and expects data from Part A early next year.

Earlier this year, the company received a U.S. patent for its Alzheimer’s treatment.