India's prime minister and top E.U. officials are hoping their summit Friday in New Delhi helps move beyond disagreements over issues like European labor market limits and Indian duties on cars.

But health industry workers and activists worry that India may bow to E.U. demands for strict intellectual property protections and investor guarantees, which could close down the world's generic drug supply.

India's $26 billion drug industry has become an immense profit engine, growing at 15-25 percent a year - but also a lifeline for millions of patients in poor countries, many in Africa, unable to pay sky-high Western prices to treat illnesses that include HIV, malaria, asthma and cancer. For HIV alone, India makes more than 80 percent of the world's medicines.

The E.U. says it has suggested a clause in the free-trade pact "to ensure that nothing in the proposed agreement would limit India's freedom to produce and export lifesaving medicines."

Despite the E.U. assurance, Indian drug makers and health workers say two broad provisions in the agreement - one on intellectual property rights, and the other on investor lawsuits - would make it much easier for international pharmaceutical giants to sue the Indian government, drug manufacturers and distributors.