The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 3 letter word TEA-TREE OIL
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
E
A
-
T
R
E
E
O
I
L
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "helpful agent" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case helpful agent = tea-tree oil.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.