A questionable Friday rumor has evolved into a market-moving clamor, as London's Times reports that Shire ($SHPG) has locked down a $5 billion credit facility and intends to make a bid for specialty drugmaker NPS Pharma ($NPSP). Citing "insiders," the Times reports that Shire has already been rebuffed once by NPS, which makes a costly rare disease treatment, but that former ViroPharm CSO and current NPS board member Colin Broom is working to broker new talks between the two. (Shire traded $4.2 billion for ViroPharm last year, part of the drugmaker's efforts to expand its rare-disease portfolio.) The Financial Times first reported rumors of the deal on Friday, citing "usually well-informed sources" that Shire was in the early stages of making a $4 billion approach to NPS. That story, despite sending NPS' shares up about 24%, was largely met with skepticism among analysts.