Compositions comprising liposomes are frequently used to deliver nucleic acids to a mammal for exogenous expression of a therapeutic protein, suppression of the expression of a disease-causing protein, or to induce an immune response against a disease-causing pathogenic cell or a cancer cell. The liposome-nucleic acid complex of these compositions are normally suspended as a dispersed phase in a pharmaceutically-acceptable aqueous carrier that constitutes a continuous phase to form an oil-in-water emulsion. Using a continuous phase of a hydrophobic carrier, instead of an aqueous carrier, to carry the dispersed phase of liposomes encapsulating nucleic acids, a composition is produced that is more effective in delivering nucleic acids to a mammalian subject in addition to being encapsulated in the liposomes, the nucleic acids may also be present in the hydrophobic carrier as a water-in-oil emulsion.
